Enzymes

Question 1

What are enzymes?

Answer 1

Catalyst produced by Living things

Question 2

Living things have thousands of [ ] happening inside them all the time. These reactions need to be [ ] - to get the right amounts of [ ]

Answer 2

Chemical reactions
Carefully controlled
Substances

Question 3

Describe how temp. affects reactions?

Answer 3

Raising the temp. increase the rate of reaction of both useful and NOT useful reactions.
The cells start to get damaged if you raise the temp. too high

Question 4

As raising the temp. isn’t that useful, living things produce [ ] that act as [ ]. Enzymes reduce the need for high temps and we only have enzymes to speed up the [ ] in the body.

Answer 4

enzymes
biological catalysts
useful chemical reactions

Question 5

What is a catalyst?

Answer 5

A substance which increases the speed of a reaction without being changed or used up in the reaction

Question 6

Describe the structure/composition of enzymes

Answer 6

Enzymes are all proteins and all proteins are made up of long chains of amino acids. These chains are folded in unique shapes, which enzymes need to do their jobs

Question 7

What jobs to proteins do? (What things are made of protein?)

Answer 7

Catalysts (Enzymes)
Structural components of tissues (Muscles)
Hormones
Antibodies

Question 8

What do chemical reactions usually involve?

Answer 8

Things being split apart or joined together

Question 9

Every enzyme has a [ ] that fits onto the substance involved in a reaction. They usually only catalyse [ ] because, for an enzyme to work, the substance has to [ ].

Answer 9

unique shape
one reaction
fit its special shape

Question 10

Describe how temp. affects enzyme reactons

Answer 10

Changing the temp. changes the rate of enzyme-catalysed reaction (Increase = increase). If it gets too hot, some of the bond holding the enzyme together break. This destroys the enzyme’s special shape so it won’t work - it’s denatured.

Question 11

What temp. do enzymes in the human body work best at?

Answer 11

37 degrees C

Question 12

How does pH affect enzyme-catalysed reactions?

Answer 12

If thee pH is too high/low it interferes with the bonds holding the enzyme together. This changes the shape and denatures the enzyme. All enzymes have an optimum pH.

Question 13

What are most enzymes optimum pH?

What is pepsin’s optimum pH? Why?

Answer 13

pH 7 = most enzymes

Pepsin is an enzyme that breaks down protein in the stomach therefore it works best at pH 2