Lower the Hill, Move Nothing Else

You'll learnhow an enzyme lowers activation energy while leaving delta-G and the endpoint unchanged.

An enzyme is the most over-credited molecule in biology. Students hand it powers it does not have: supplying energy, changing ΔG, dragging an unfavourable reaction uphill. It does exactly one thing — it lowers the activation barrier — and everything else about the reaction survives untouched. Twelve short steps; press Next for each one.

AP BIOLOGY · 12 STEPS · 6 QUICK CHECKS · E_a 75 → 25 kJ/mol · ΔG −60 kJ/mol, UNCHANGED · v5

enzyme · lower Eₐ · same ΔG

Before you start

What you're looking at

A free-energy diagram of one uncatalysed reaction — reactants on a high shelf, products on a lower one, a hill between them.

The question

Which features of this diagram does an enzyme change, and which stay exactly where they are?

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