Enzymes Flashcards
What is energy?
The capacity to do work
Which are the two types of energy?
Potential & kinetic
What is potential energy?
Stored energy or energy of position (gravitational)
What is kinetic energy?
Energy of motion
What do thermodynamics say?
- Energy cannot be created or destroyed
- Energy tends to spread out, disperse, until no part of a system holds more than another part
What happens during a chemical reaction?
One or more reactants become one or more products
What are reactants?
Molecules that enter the reaction and become changed by it
What are products?
Molecules produced by a reaction
In energy-requiring reactions, cells store energy where?
In the chemical bonds of organic compounds
In energy-releasing reactions, cells do what?
They retrieve energy stored in the chemical bonds of organic compounds
What is exergonic?
Energy is released
What is endergonic?
Energy is absorbed
How do cells store and retrieve energy?
By making and breaking chemical bonds
What are enzymes?
Biological catalysts, meaning they speed up reactions
Each enzyme recognizes specific what?
Reactants or substrates
