Enzymes – Session 1

Similar to the fact that you need flour, eggs, and sugar to bake a cake, cells need molecules to function. These molecules include things like water, sugars, and proteins. If you mix flour, eggs, and sugar in the correct way, and bake it, you get a cake. Similarly, when the molecules come together in particular ways, they create new molecules.

For example, when we eat, our bodies take food molecules. It mixes these food molecules with oxygen we breathe in. This mixing process is called a chemical reaction. Energy is produced due to this mixing. We use that energy to do our daily tasks.

Let us say you are baking a cake. You mix ingredients and bake them. These ingredients are called the reactants. The cake is produced after baking the mixed ingredients. So the cake is called the product.

So we can say that, in a chemical reaction, the things that react with each are known as reactants. These reactants react together to form the product. For example, the burning of petrol is a chemical reaction.

During the burning of petrol, the petrol reacts with the oxygen in the air. So the petrol and the oxygen are the reactants. This reaction results in the formation of carbon dioxide, water vapor and the heat. The carbon dioxide, water vapor and the heat are the products.

Do you know how the burning of the petrol starts? It starts with the ignition. We ignite the petrol and then it starts burning. This means that without ignition, we might not be able to burn the petrol. The ignition helps to start the chemical reaction between the petrol and the oxygen.

Let us imagine you are at a playground. There is a big slide that you want to move downward. But, you are a little nervous because it looks high and steep. Now, imagine you have a friend with you. Your friend encourages you. He gives you a gentle push to help you move downward the slide. With their help, you slide downward quickly and have lots of fun.

The slide is like a process or reaction that takes some time. Your friend who gives you the push is like a catalyst. A catalyst is something that helps reactions happen faster without being used up. Similar to the fact that your friend helps you move downward faster but stays at the top, ready to help the next person.

Imagine you are baking cookies, and the dough is really thick and difficult to stir. Your arm might get tired if you try stirring it by yourself. But then, you remember you have an electric mixer. When you use the electric mixer, stirring becomes so much easier and faster. The dough becomes ready in much less time.

The process of stirring the thick dough by hand is like a slow chemical reaction. The electric mixer is like the catalyst. The electric mixer does not become part of the cookie dough. It helps mix everything much faster than if you did it by hand.

We know that our body converts the food into energy. We use this energy to do our daily tasks.Have you ever wondered how our body converts food into the energy? This process involves the catalysts.

Catalysts help in the conversion of the food into energy. For example, when we eat food, our stomach digests the food. It converts it into energy. It converts it with the help of special catalyst called the pepsin. The catalysts working in the animals and the plants are called the enzymes.

Pepsin is the enzyme in our stomach. It helps in the digestion of the food. Without pepsin we might not be able to digest food. Enzymes only help to start or speed up the chemical reaction. Enzymes can be reused again and again.

Imagine you are going from one place to another on foot. In contrast, if you travel on bike, you can cover the same distance faster. So the bike acts as the enzyme. Similarly, without the enzymes we might not be able to digest our food. Or the digestion process might be very slow without the enzymes. The enzymes are very important to carry out all the necessary chemical reactions in our body.