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posted by  jmazz on 11/3/2009 2:53:57 PM  |  status: Live  |  Earned Karma: 0

energy and chemical reactions (chemistry of life)

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General Biology Biology The Living Environment (New York) by George Johnson and Peter Raven ISBN 0030362024 2 N/A 11/3/2009 at 6:00:00 PM
Question Details:
In an experiment you conducted, the rate of an enzyme-catalyzed reaction increased as you increased the substrate concentration.  But the reaction rate increased by only a small amount.  Explain why.

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posted by tyl2ant on 11/3/2009 3:54:17 PM  |  status: Live
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You are initially increasing the amount of substrates so that increases the chance for a substrate to attach to an enzyme.  At some point, there will be no more active sites available so the reaction rate only increases slightly since you now have a large amount of substrates still but have no active sites on enzymes.
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posted by jmazz on 11/3/2009 4:00:13 PM  |  status: Live
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Thank you.  Could temperature also play a role in the reaction rate increasing by a small amount?
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posted by Anonymous on 11/3/2009 10:52:06 PM  |  status: Live
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Yes you are correct, temp is important too. Enzyme concentration is the main issue, the rate of reaction depends directly on the amount of enzyme, Substrate concentration is important too. The rate of enzyme controlled reaction may increase in temperature but up to a certain limit. In humans the 37C is the optimum temperature. Also adding the substrate might be affecting the pH for example.
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