Exploring Factors That Affect The Rate Of Enzyme Activity

Enzymes are catalysts that accelerate chemical reactions by decreasing the amount of activation energy needed, during reactions enzymes are not consumed allowing the enzyme to be reused (Eed, 2013). Each individual enzyme has a groove on its own surface, this groove is known as the active site (Robinson, 2016). On the active site a reactant, also known as a substrate, interacts with the enzyme in order to cause a reaction that could take days or years to happen occur significantly faster (Robinson, 2016). There are many factors that affect how efficient enzymes are, such as pH, temperature, and both enzyme and substrate concentration (Eed, 2013). Another factor is charge, however its affect tends to be negligible and the actual shape of the

Higher temperatures can increase enzyme activity up to a certain point, however raising the environments temperature too much can cause the enzyme to become denatured, this process is also irreversible (Daniel et al, 2013). Higher temperature’s impact on enzyme activity is due to higher temperatures causing molecules to move more rapidly which causes the substrate to collide with the active site of the enzyme more frequently (Eed, 2013). Enzyme concentration also plays an important role, it seems that higher enzyme concentration increase enzyme activity and as a result increases the speed at which chemical reactions take place (Eed, 2013). All enzymes have different preferences when it comes to its environment (Eed, 2013). With all of these factors on enzyme activity an organism must provide the appropriate conditions so all of its enzymes can work efficiently (Eed,

Absorption spectroscopy is a tool most commonly used in analytical chemistry, however it is occasionally used in other fields such as molecular physics, atomic physics, and astronomical spectroscopy (“Absorption Spectroscopy”). Absorption spectroscopy is commonly used to quantify the amount of a substance present, which makes it very useful for determining how much of a certain product is present after a chemical reaction takes place (“Absorption Spectroscopy”). The absorption spectrum is the amount of radiation absorbed across a range of frequencies, it is mainly determined by the atomic or molecular composition of the specific material (“Absorption Spectroscopy”). The most common way to find the absorption spectrum is to direct a radiation beam at a sample and then detect the intensity of the radiation that passes through it, the energy that passes through can then be used to calculate the absorption of the substance (“Absorption Spectroscopy”). Absorption spectroscopy is very useful for analyzing chemicals because of how specific it is and its quantitative nature, due how to specific the absorption spectra is it is possible for a spectrophotometer to detect specific compounds within a mixture (“Absorption Spectroscopy”). The most basic approach to absorption spectroscopy is to generate radiation and to have a