Suppose you overheard another student say the following Enzy

Suppose you overheard another student say the following: “Enzymes are biological molecules that cause reactions to occur. For example, proteases are enzymes that cause peptide bonds to break. Without the protease, the reaction won’t go to completion; but when you add the enzyme, the reaction goes to completion and the protein is degraded”. correct the errors in the statement above by describing what enzymes do (or don’t do) to the kinetics and thermodynamics of and the reactions they catalyze.

Solution

Enzymes are biological catalysts that increase the rate of reaction by lowering the activation energy.They do not cause reaction to occur.For example, proteases are enzymes that cause peptide bonds to break which is known as hydrolysis of peptide bonds in proteins.Without the protease enzyme,the proteolysis reaction will take place (non enzymatically by low pH or high temperature) but at a very very slow rate but when you add the enzyme,the reaction goes to completion faster and the protein is broken down to small peptides and aminoacids.Enzymes never degrade a protein ,they break it down to small peptides or aminoacids.