Question

After being heated, an enzyme loses its ability to catalyze a reaction. What change occurred to the enzyme?

A. A physical change, because cooling will restore the enzyme's function
B. A physical change, because intermolecular forces were overcome

Answer 1

Heated......Temperature rises.

Answer 2

I was thinking A

Answer 3

Nope

Answer 4

Youre heating the enzyme......so the temperature is rising.

Lets do an analogy: Pretend youre holding a metal pot. The metal pot is getting hotter and hotter via stove. If you cannot tolerate the pot's temperature, you release the pot, right?

How does this apply to bonding?

Answer 5

any confirmation of protein is due to interaction between R groups of amino acid residues in the protein polypetide
these interactions are:
London dispersion
Hydrophobic effect
H bonds
Electrostatic interaction
these interactions give the confirmation of protein, be it primary, secondary, tertiary or quaternary structure
so by increasing the temp
u r overcoming some of these interactions
which causes, specifically speaking of enzyme, change in shape of active site, which is why substrate no longer fits, thus reaction cannot be catalyzed