Enzyme Lab Report
Enzymes
INTRODUCTION
Enzymes are protein cells and they are found in the gut. They help to break down the food you eat. Enzymes are produced by living cells and they speed up reactions because they are biological catalysts. If we did not have enzymes, the reactions in our cells would be too slow to keep us alive. This means that they are extremely important for our survival. The properties of enzymes are:
⋆ They can be used many times, because they can speed up reactions without using up any of themselves.
⋆ Their presence does not affect the end product.
⋆ They only need a small effort to change a large amount of substrate. ⋆ Enzymes are very specific and usually only speed up a single reaction. ⋆ Their rate of activity depends on the PH of the substance, the temperature of the substance and the concentration of both the substance and the enzyme.
An enzyme fuses with its substrate and this makes an enzyme-substrate complex. Once this reaction has occurred, the complex will break up into the enzyme and the products. After all of this, the enzyme is not changed and can repeat the reaction again.
Enzymes play a major part in the ‘lock and key’ idea. This is when a substrate molecule collides with a molecule of the correct enzyme. It will then fit or ‘lock’ into the active site, which is now free for the reaction to happen again. The active site of each enzyme is specific to fit with just one type of substrate.
The three main digestive enzymes in the body are; protease, which comes from the stomach, the pancreas and the small intestine. It works on proteins and the products of its digestion are amino acids. The next main enzyme is carbohydrase, which is in saliva, the pancreas and the small intestine. The product of digestion is glucose. The last enzyme is lipase. It is found in the pancreas and the small intestine, it works on fats and produces fatty acids and glycerol. Lipase works best at a pH of
INTRODUCTION
Enzymes are protein cells and they are found in the gut. They help to break down the food you eat. Enzymes are produced by living cells and they speed up reactions because they are biological catalysts. If we did not have enzymes, the reactions in our cells would be too slow to keep us alive. This means that they are extremely important for our survival. The properties of enzymes are:
⋆ They can be used many times, because they can speed up reactions without using up any of themselves.
⋆ Their presence does not affect the end product.
⋆ They only need a small effort to change a large amount of substrate. ⋆ Enzymes are very specific and usually only speed up a single reaction. ⋆ Their rate of activity depends on the PH of the substance, the temperature of the substance and the concentration of both the substance and the enzyme.
An enzyme fuses with its substrate and this makes an enzyme-substrate complex. Once this reaction has occurred, the complex will break up into the enzyme and the products. After all of this, the enzyme is not changed and can repeat the reaction again.
Enzymes play a major part in the ‘lock and key’ idea. This is when a substrate molecule collides with a molecule of the correct enzyme. It will then fit or ‘lock’ into the active site, which is now free for the reaction to happen again. The active site of each enzyme is specific to fit with just one type of substrate.
The three main digestive enzymes in the body are; protease, which comes from the stomach, the pancreas and the small intestine. It works on proteins and the products of its digestion are amino acids. The next main enzyme is carbohydrase, which is in saliva, the pancreas and the small intestine. The product of digestion is glucose. The last enzyme is lipase. It is found in the pancreas and the small intestine, it works on fats and produces fatty acids and glycerol. Lipase works best at a pH of