o- 1. Enzymes lower activation energy which allows a reaction to occur at a fast
ID: 199894 • Letter: O
Question
o- 1. Enzymes lower activation energy which allows a reaction to occur at a faster rate. Why is it importapt, in terms of functionality, for enzymes to lower this activation emergy? What happess when the physical environment is which the enzyme exists within is altered? 2 From a human our bodies conveenergy stored in glucose into ATP which our cells can use efficiently What happens (to humans) when this peocess is not efficient and no longer functioes within cells? pective, cellular respiration is of an absolute importance in terns of how Page of s0 words Engish e) 27 PM /22/2018Explanation / Answer
1. During a chemical reaction, the participating substrates or reactants have a certain amount of free energy, based on kinetic energy due to collisions with one another in a physical environment. However, for the reaction to proceed and result in products being formed, these reactants need to orient themselves in the right position relative to each other. This also increases the free energy of the reaction. The free energy needs to exceed the activation energy o of the reaction, for the reactants to become products. Enzymes help with this. They form temporary bonds with one or maybe more of the reactants. This bonding changes the shape of substrates and exposes new active sites on the reactants, which allows them to favorably bond without much energy being spent. Therefore, enzymes or catalysts reduces the energy required to begin the reaction, or activation energy, thus speeding up the reaction and time taken for products to be formed.
hanging the physical environment in which enzymes exist, either by changing temperature or adding new substrates (like inhibitors) causes the bonds between enzymes and reactants to break. This results in the reaction slowing down due to a resultant increase in activation energy.
2. During regular cellular respiration, a complete breakdown of a glucose molecule results in 38ATPs being released for energy. When the oxygen concentration is limited, this process does not work as efficiently. Instead, anaerobic respiration or fermentation occurs, wherein a partial breakdown of glucose occurs. This causes only 2ATP molecules to release from glycolysis, as the process does not go as far as moving into the mitochondria. Therefore, the cells receive a limited amount of energy to function. In human cells, a by-product of this reaction is lactic acid in anaerobic conditions. This is what causes pain and burning in muscles, in athletes, as their muscles are left starving for oxygen during strenuous activity.
Complete loss of oxygen means the breakdown of sugars is inhibited, which means no energy is released, ultimately resulting in cell death.
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