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Biology
Human biology
Physical education
Biology
Human biology
Physical education
The outside of your body - your skin - may feel very hot on a sunny summer's day or very cold when it is frosty and snowy. But it is very important that your internal core temperature stays around 37°C whatever the weather and whatever you are doing.
There are three main factors which can affect your core body temperature, sending it up or down.
Enzymes are protein molecules which act as biological catalysts, speeding up and controlling all the reactions taking place in the cells of your body. 37°C is the temperature at which these enzymes work best. A few degrees cooler and they work so slowly that the reactions in your cells do not go fast enough to keep you alive. A few degrees higher and the enzymes denaturedenature
The process by which the folding of the long chains of amino acids making up a protein is damaged and destroyed by heat, pH changes, or other changes, changing the structure and function of the entire molecule.
, so they cannot work at all and you will die.
An enzyme is a protein molecule. Each type of enzyme catalyses a particular reaction or type of reaction. They can do this because the long chains of amino acidamino acid
The basic building blocks of proteins. There are twenty amino acids used, in different combinations, to make every protein required by the human body.
s which make up the enzyme are folded into a particular shape known as the active siteactive site
The specially shaped site on an enzyme where the substrates of the reaction bind. It is formed by the folding of the amino acid chains which make up the protein.
. This allows other molecules - the substrates of the reaction - to fit into the enzyme. This works like a lock and key. Once the substrate is in place in the active site it binds to the enzyme and the reaction then takes place rapidly. The products of the reaction are released from the surface of the enzyme.
Enzymes are proteins. If the temperature goes up above about 40°C the long amino acidamino acid
The basic building blocks of proteins. There are twenty amino acids used, in different combinations, to make every protein required by the human body.
chains begin to unravel. This changes the shape of the active siteactive site
The specially shaped site on an enzyme where the substrates of the reaction bind. It is formed by the folding of the amino acid chains which make up the protein.
. The substrate no longer fits and binds to the active site so the enzyme can no longer catalyse the reaction.