What does an enzyme do to the activation energy of a reaction?

An enzyme functions as a biological catalyst that significantly reduces the activation energy required for a chemical reaction to occur. Activation energy is the minimum energy needed for reactants to convert into products. By lowering this energy barrier, enzymes enable reactions to proceed more rapidly and efficiently at physiological temperatures, which is critical for sustaining life processes.

Enzymes achieve this by stabilizing the transition state of the reaction, providing an alternative reaction pathway that requires less energy. They accomplish this through mechanisms such as bringing substrates closer together in optimal orientation, creating an environment conducive to the reaction, or stressing certain bonds in substrates to facilitate their transformation.

This reduction in activation energy allows reactions that might otherwise occur very slowly, if at all, to occur at rates that support metabolic functions. Understanding this crucial role of enzymes is fundamental in biochemistry and clinical chemistry, as it highlights their importance in various biological processes and industrial applications.