Background: Enzymes increase the rate of chemical reactions by reducing the amount of activation energy needed for reactants to start reacting. One way this can happen is modeled in the Figure below . Enzymes aren’t changed or used up in the reactions they catalyze, so they can be used to speed up the same reaction over and over again. Each enzyme is highly specific for the particular reaction is catalyzes, so enzymes are very effective. A reaction that would take many years to occur without its enzyme might occur in a split second with the enzyme. Enzymes are also very efficient, so waste products rarely form.

Situation: Two scientists, Cathy and Mark, are working on a  new project. They want to make a new polymer using two chemicals. Mark mixes the two chemicals together on the first day and after a week of waiting he has managed to create a new polymer. While he is happy about the result he feels a week is way to long. Cathy has an idea. She decides to try adding an enzyme to the chemical mixture, The mixture only takes seconds to form the new polymer and the enzyme she used is in tact floating on top of the now completed polymer. She decides to test even further and uses the left over enzyme on another batch of chemicals. The reaction occurs in seconds again and the same amount of enzyme is left floating on top of the polymer for her to use again in the next batch.

Question: Will using the enzyme in the chemical mixture increase or decrease the speed of the reaction?
Answer: increase

Situation: Two scientists, Cathy and Mark, are working on a  new project. They want to make a new polymer using two chemicals. Mark mixes the two chemicals together calling it batch A. After a week of waiting he has managed to create a new polymer. While he is happy about the result but he feels a week is way to long. Cathy has an idea. She decides to try adding an enzyme to the chemical mixture, calling this batch B, The mixture only takes seconds to form the new polymer and the enzyme she used is in tact floating on top of the now completed polymer. She decides to test even further and uses the left over enzyme on another batch of chemicals. The reaction occurs in seconds again and the same amount of enzyme is left floating on top of the polymer for her to use again in the next batch.

Question: Which chemical mixture, batch A or batch B, create the polymer faster?
Answer: batch B

Situation: Two scientists, Cathy and Mark, are working on a  new project. They want to make a new polymer using two chemicals. Mark mixes the two chemicals together calling it batch A. After a week of waiting he has managed to create a new polymer. While he is happy about the result but he feels a week is way to long. Cathy has an idea. She decides to try adding an enzyme to the chemical mixture, calling this batch B, The mixture only takes seconds to form the new polymer and the enzyme she used is in tact floating on top of the now completed polymer. She decides to test even further and uses the left over enzyme on another batch of chemicals. The reaction occurs in seconds again and the same amount of enzyme is left floating on top of the polymer for her to use again in the next batch.

Question: Will adding the enzyme to Mark's batch A make creating the polymer faster or slower?
Answer: faster

Situation: A scientist is testing chemical reactions. At first he tries mixing two chemicals together at a temperature of 85 degrees Celsius and labels it Trial A. He records the time for the reaction to complete at 2 minutes. Knowing that this isn't the temperature users at home will be combining the chemicals at he tries the reaction again at a more modest 65 degrees Celsius and labels this trial B. Noting this temperature the reaction takes almost 4 times as long which is completely unacceptable, He then gets an idea to add and enzyme designed specifically for these two chemicals and then tries the reaction at the modest 65 degrees Celsius again calling this one trial C

Question: Given that this enzyme is designed specifically for use with the chemicals in this experiment, will the reaction for trial C be faster or slower than the reaction in trial B?
Answer: faster

Situation: A scientist is testing chemical reactions. At first he tries mixing two chemicals together at a temperature of 85 degrees Celsius and labels it Trial A. He records the time for the reaction to complete at 2 minutes. Knowing that this isn't the temperature users at home will be combining the chemicals at he tries the reaction again at a more modest 65 degrees Celsius and labels this trial B. Noting this temperature the reaction takes almost 4 times as long which is completely unacceptable, He then gets an idea to add and enzyme designed specifically for these two chemicals and then tries the reaction at the modest 65 degrees Celsius again calling this one trial C

Question: Will the use of a enzyme designed specifically for a reaction, will it increase or decrease the activation energy required for the reactants to start reacting?
Answer: decrease

Situation: A scientist is testing chemical reactions. At first he tries mixing two chemicals together at a temperature of 85 degrees Celsius and labels it Trial A. He records the time for the reaction to complete at 2 minutes. Knowing that this isn't the temperature users at home will be combining the chemicals at he tries the reaction again at a more modest 65 degrees Celsius and labels this trial B. Noting this temperature the reaction takes almost 4 times as long which is completely unacceptable, He then gets an idea to add and enzyme designed specifically for these two chemicals and then tries the reaction at the modest 65 degrees Celsius again calling this one trial C

Question: Will adding the enzyme to trial A increase or decrease the rate of the reaction?
Answer: increase

Situation: A scientist is testing chemical reactions. At first he tries mixing two chemicals together at a temperature of 85 degrees Celsius and labels it Trial A. He records the time for the reaction to complete at 2 minutes. Knowing that this isn't the temperature users at home will be combining the chemicals at he tries the reaction again at a more modest 65 degrees Celsius and labels this trial B. Noting this temperature the reaction takes almost 4 times as long which is completely unacceptable, He then gets an idea to add and enzyme designed specifically for these two chemicals and then tries the reaction at the modest 65 degrees Celsius again calling this one trial C

Question: Given the specifically designed enzyme is added to Trial A, will the required activation energy increase or decrease?
Answer: decrease