Enzymes-Key words

Catalyst: is a substance that speeds up the rate of a chemical reaction.

Enzymes: are proteins that act as biological catalyst.
Substrates: the reactants of enzyme-catalyzed reactions.

Key Facts
-Chemical reactions always involve changes in the chemical bonds that join
atoms in compounds.
-Chemical reactions that release energy often occur spontaneously. Chemical
reactions that absorb energy will not occur without a source of energy.
-Enzymes speed up chemical reactions that take place in cells.
-Temperature, pH and regulatory molecules can affect the activity of
enzymes.
Enzymes are known to catalyze more than 5,000 biochemical reaction types.
[2]
Most enzymes are proteins, although a few are catalytic RNA molecules.
Enzymes' specificity comes from their unique three-dimensional structures.
Like all catalysts, enzymes increase the rate of a reaction by lowering
its activation energy. Some enzymes can make their conversion of substrate
to product occur many millions of times faster. An extreme example
isorotidine 5'-phosphate decarboxylase, which allows a reaction that would
otherwise take millions of years to occur in milliseconds.[3][4] Chemically,
enzymes are like any catalyst and are not consumed in chemical reactions,
nor do they alter the equilibrium of a reaction. Enzymes differ from most
other catalysts by being much more specific. Enzyme activity can be affected
by other molecules: inhibitors are molecules that decrease enzyme activity,
and activators are molecules that increase activity.
Many drugs and poisons are enzyme inhibitors. An enzyme's activity
decreases markedly outside its optimal temperature and pH.
Some enzymes are used commercially, for example, in the synthesis
of antibiotics. Some household products use enzymes to speed up chemical
reactions: enzymes in biological washing break down protein, starch
or fat stains on clothes, and enzymes in meat tenderizer break down proteins
into smaller molecules, making the meat easier to chew.

Energy, Producers and Consumers- Key words

Autotrophs: use solar or chemical energy to produce food by assembling
inorganic compound into complex organic molecules.
Primary producers: are the first producers of energy-rich compound that are
later used by other organisms.
Photosynthesis: capture light energy and uses it to power chemical reactions
that convert carbon dioxide and water into oxygen and energy-rich
carbohydrates such as sugar and starches.
Chemosynthesis: process in which chemical energy is used to produce
carbohydrates.
Heterotrophs: organisms that acquire energy from others organisms.
Consumers: organisms that rely on other organisms for energy and nutrients.

Key Concepts
The United States produces the most energy in the world, but it also uses the
mostthough China, the worlds second-largest energy consumer, is biting
at our heels. Here's a look at the world's top 10 energy consumers and
producers.
Producers
In 2006, total world Btu production was 469 quadrillion Btus. "Btu" is the
abbreviation for British thermal unit. One Btu is nearly equal to the amount
of energy released when a wood match is burned.
Country

Btus produced*

United States

71 quadrillion Btu

China

67.7 quadrillion Btu

Russia

53.3 quadrillion Btu

Saudi Arabia

24.7 quadrillion Btu

Canada

19.3 quadrillion Btu

Iran

13.1 quadrillion Btu

*Btu is the abbreviation for British thermal unit. One Btu is nearly equal to
the amount of energy released when a wood match is burned
Source: U.S. Dept. of Energy.
Consumers
Country

Percent of World Energy Consumed

United States

21%

China

16

Russia

Japan

India

Germany

Source: U.S. Dept. of Energy.

U.S. Energy Sources

Energy

U.S. Energy Consumption

by Energy Source, 2002
2006 (Quadrillion Btu)

More on Top Energy Producers and Consumers from Infoplease:

Sources of U.S. Oil Imports - Sources of U.S. Oil Imports Each day, the
U.S. uses about 21 million barrels of oil-more than any ...

Top Oil Producers and Consumers - Find out which countries are the
world's top oil producers and consumers.

Earth Day: Energy - Energy: Production & Consumption Find out which
countries use and produce the most energy, how ...

Homework Center: World - Subjects Geography History Language

Arts Mathematics ...

Earth Day: History, Stats & Facts on Energy Use, Recycling Tips &
More - Earth Day Spikes in oil, gas, and food prices raise awareness of
the need to conserve resources by ...

Biomes
Is a formation of plants and animals that have common characteristics due to
similar climates and can be found over a range of continents? Biomes are
distinct from habitats, because any biome can comprise a variety of habitats.
Biomes are defined by climate regimes and biogeography.
A 1978 study on North American grasslands found a positive logistic
correlation between evapotranspiration in mm/yr and above-ground net
primary production in g/m2/yr. The general results from the study were that
precipitation and water use led to above-ground primary production,
while solar irradiation and temperature lead to below-ground primary
production (roots), and temperature and water lead to cool and warm season
growth habit.[3] These findings help explain the categories used in Holdridges
bio classification scheme (see below), which were then later simplified by
Whittaker. The number of classification schemes and the variety of
determinants used in those schemes, however, should be taken as strong
indicators that biomes do not fit perfectly into the classification schemes
created.

Ecosystems
An ecosystem is a community of living organisms in conjunction with
the nonliving components of their environment (things like air, water and
mineral soil), interacting as a system. These biotic and abiotic
components are regarded as linked together through nutrient cycles and
energy flows. The relationship between the abiotic components and the
biotic components of the ecosystem is termed 'holocoenosis'. As ecosystems
are defined by the network of interactions among organisms, and between
organisms and their environment, they can be of any size but usually
encompass specific, limited spaces (although some scientists say that the
entire planet is an ecosystem).
Energy, water, nitrogen and soil minerals are other essential abiotic
components of an ecosystem. The energy that flows through ecosystems is
obtained primarily from the sun. It generally enters the system
through photosynthesis, a process that also captures carbon from the
atmosphere. By feeding on plants and on one another, animals play an
important role in the movement of matter and energy through the system.
They also influence the quantity of plant and microbial biomass present. By
breaking down dead organic matter, decomposers release carbon back to

the atmosphere and facilitate nutrient cycling by converting nutrients stored

in dead biomass back to a form that can be readily used by plants and other
microbes.
Ecosystems are controlled both by external and internal factors. External
factors such as climate, the parent material that forms the soil,
and topography control the overall structure of an ecosystem and the way
things work within it, but are not themselves influenced by the ecosystem.
[8]
Other external factors include time and potential biota. Ecosystems are
dynamic entitiesinvariably, they are subject to periodic disturbances and
are in the process of recovering from some past disturbance. Ecosystems in
similar environments that are located in different parts of the world can have
very different characteristics simply because they contain different
species. The introduction can cause substantial shifts in ecosystem function.
Internal factors not only control ecosystem processes but are also controlled
by them and are often subject to feedback loops.[8] While the resource inputs
are generally controlled by external processes like climate and parent
material, the availability of these resources within the ecosystem is
controlled by internal factors like decomposition, root competition or
shading. Other internal factors include disturbance, succession and the types
of species present. Although humans exist and operate within ecosystems,
their cumulative effects are large enough to influence external factors like
climate.
Biodiversity affects ecosystem function, as do the processes
of disturbance and succession. Ecosystems provide a variety of goods and
services upon which people depend; the principles of ecosystem
management suggest that rather than managing individual species,
natural should be managed at the level of the ecosystem itself. Classifying
ecosystems into ecologically homogeneous units is an important step
towards effective ecosystem management, but there is no single, agreedupon way to do this.