Activation Energy Flashcards
What is activation energy?
It is the minimum amount of energy required for molecules to react breaking existing bonds and creating new ones.
What would increasing the temperature do to a reaction?
Heating speeds up a reaction as it increases the amount of kinetic energy produced allowing more successful collisions to occur more frequently within chemicals. It’s speeds up reactions in nonliving organisms however in most living organisms temperatures above 40° can cause irreversible damage, denaturing them.
What does an enzyme do to the activation energy?
Enzymes lower activation energy. As the substrate enters the active site the shape of the molecule alters allowing reactions to occur at lower temperatures.
Why does the amount of product produced increase in an enzyme reaction?
The substrate molecule binds to the active site, where they successfully collide which causes the substrate to break down releasing the products formed in the reaction.
What does the rate of reaction depend on?
It depends on the number of free active sites if all other conditions are optimal and there is excess substrate. Otherwise it can depend on temperature, pH, substrate concentration and enzyme concentration.
Why does the line plateau in the activation energy graph?
As all the substrate has been used up so no more product can form.
