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Factors Affecting the Rate of Enzyme Action

The factors that affect the rate (speed) of enzyme action are:

Temperature

Temperature

  • Increasing the temperature of a working enzyme initially increases the reacting activity.
  • Enzymes have an optimum temperature. Once this temperature is reached, the activity decreases.
  • Past a certain temperature, the active site changes shape, and the enzyme is denatured (loses its catalytic activity).
pH (measure of acidity)

pH (measure of acidity)

  • Enzymes have an optimum pH (measure of acidity).
  • If the pH changes away from the optimum pH, the enzyme activity decreases.
  • If the pH is too low or too high, the enzyme is denatured and will not function.
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Cell Biology

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What's in Cells?

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Cell Division

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Transport in Cells

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Principles of Organisation

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Enzymes

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