Enzymes are specific
One enzyme, one kind of job.
Coal for lunch?
We get energy from rice and dal. We do not get energy if we try to eat coal.
Why can we not get energy from coal?
What this lesson covers
The idea
Enzymes are specific in action, each breaking down a particular substance, so many human-made materials such as plastics are not broken down by bacteria or other saprophytes and persist for a long time.
Coal for lunch?
We get energy from rice and dal. We do not get energy if we try to eat coal.
Why can we not get energy from coal?
- Our enzymes break down particular substances, and coal is not one of them
- Coal is too hard to swallow
- Coal has no energy in it
Enzymes and substances
Open all three tabs.
A particular enzyme for a particular substance
The food we eat is digested by various enzymes. The same enzyme does not break down everything. Specific enzymes are needed for the break-down of a particular substance. That is why we will not get any energy if we try to eat coal. For the same reason many human-made materials like plastics are not broken down by bacteria or other saprophytes, and they persist for a long time.
Enzymes are specific in action, each breaking down a particular substance, so many human-made materials such as plastics are not broken down by bacteria or other saprophytes and persist for a long time.
Notes
Enzymes are specific, so plastics are not broken down by bacteria and persist.
Check yourself
What does it mean that enzymes are specific in their action?
Why will we not get any energy if we try to eat coal?
Why do many human-made materials like plastics persist for a long time?
- Specific enzymes are needed to break down a particular substance — correct. Yes!
- One enzyme breaks down everything we eat. The same enzyme does not break down everything we eat.
- Enzymes break down any substance at all. Each enzyme breaks down a particular substance.
- Coal is a fuel, so it has no energy in it. Coal can be used as a fuel. The problem is that enzymes are specific and our enzymes do not break it down.
- Enzymes are specific, and our enzymes do not break down coal — correct. Yes!
- Digestion in the body does not need enzymes. The food we eat is digested by various enzymes in our body.
- Bacteria break them down very quickly. Many human-made materials like plastics are not broken down by the action of bacteria or other saprophytes.
- Heat and pressure break them down completely in the environment. Heat and pressure can act on them, but under the conditions found in our environment they persist for a long time.
- Bacteria and other saprophytes do not break them down — correct. Yes!