Concept of activation energy

● Stability is something related to energy status of the molecule or

the structure.
● Hence, when we look at this pictorially through a graph it looks
like something as in Figure 9.4.
● The y-axis represents the potential energy content. The x-axis
represents the progression of the structural transformation or
states through the ‘transition state’.
● If ‘P’ is at a lower level than ‘S’, the reaction is an exothermic
reaction. One need not supply energy (by heating) in order to
form the product.
● However, whether it is an exothermic or spontaneous reaction or
an endothermic or energy requiring reaction, the ‘S’ has to go
through a much higher energy state or transition state.
● The difference in average energy content of ‘S’ from that of this
transition state is called ‘activation energy’.
 Factors Affecting Enzyme Activity

❖ Temperature and pH
● Enzymes generally function in a narrow range of
temperature and pH
● Each enzyme shows its highest activity at a particular
temperature and pH called the optimum temperature
and optimum pH.
● Activity declines both below and above the optimum
value.
● Low temperature preserves the enzyme in a
temporarily inactive state whereas high temperature
destroys enzymatic activity because proteins are
denatured by heat.
 Factors Affecting Enzyme Activity

❖ Concentration of Substrate
● With the increase in substrate concentration, the
velocity of the enzymatic reaction rises at first.
● The reaction ultimately reaches a maximum velocity
(Vmax) which is not exceeded by any further rise in
concentration of the substrate.
● This is because the enzyme molecules are fewer than
the substrate molecules and after saturation of these
molecules, there are no free enzyme molecules to
bind with the additional substrate molecules
 Pigments involved in Photosynthesis

● a - Graph showing the absorption spectrum of chlorophyll a, b and

the carotenoids
● b - Graph showing action spectrum of photosynthesis
● c - Graph showing action spectrum of photosynthesis
superimposed on absorption spectrum of chlorophyll a
● These graphs, together, show that most of the photosynthesis
takes place in the blue and red regions of the spectrum; some
photosynthesis does take place at the other wavelengths of the
visible spectrum.
 Graph of light intensity

● We need to distinguish between light quality, light intensity

and the duration of exposure to light, while discussing light
as a factor that affects photosynthesis.
● There is a linear relationship between incident light and CO2
fixation rates at low light intensities.
● At higher light intensities, gradually the rate does not show
further increase as other factors become limiting (Figure
11.10). What is interesting to note is that light saturation
occurs at 10 percent of the full sunlight.
● Hence, except for plants in shade or in dense forests, light is
rarely a limiting factor in nature.
● Increase in incident light beyond a point causes the
breakdown of chlorophyll and a decrease in photosynthesis.
 Growth Rates : Arithmetic Growth

● In arithmetic growth, following mitotic cell division, only one

daughter cell continues to divide while the other differentiates
and matures.
● The simplest expression of arithmetic growth is exemplified
by a root elongating at a constant rate.
● Look at Figure 13.5. On plotting the length of the organ
against time, a linear curve is obtained.
● Mathematically, it is expressed as
Lt = L0 + rt
Lt = length at time ‘t’
L0 = length at time ‘zero’
r = growth rate / elongation per unit time.
 Growth Rates : Geometrical Growth

● In most systems, the initial growth is slow (lag phase), and it

increases rapidly thereafter – at an exponential rate (log or
exponential phase).
● Here, both the progeny cells following mitotic cell division retain the
ability to divide and continue to do so. However, with limited nutrient
supply, the growth slows down leading to a stationary phase.
● If we plot the parameter of growth against time, we get a typical
sigmoid or S-curve (Figure 13.6).
● The exponential growth can be expressed as
W1 = W0 ert
W1 = final size (weight, height, number etc.)
W0 = initial size at the beginning of the period
r = growth rate
t = time of growth
e = base of natural logarithms
● Here, r is the relative growth rate and is also the measure of the ability of the plant to produce new plant
material, referred to as efficiency index. Hence, the final size of W1 depends on the initial size, W0 .
 Oxygen dissociation curve

● Each haemoglobin molecule can carry a maximum of four

molecules of O2 .
● Binding of oxygen with haemoglobin is primarily related to partial
pressure of O2 .
● Partial pressure of CO2 , hydrogen ion concentration and
temperature are the other factors which can interfere with this
binding.
● A sigmoid curve is obtained when percentage saturation of
haemoglobin with O2 is plotted against the pO2 .
● This curve is called the Oxygen dissociation curve (Figure 14.5)
and is highly useful in studying the effect of factors like pCO2 ,
H+ concentration, etc., on binding of O2 with haemoglobin.
Diagrammatic presentation of events during a menstrual cycle