Question

How does increasing the temperature of an enzymatic reaction work to increase the reaction rate? At what point does heating a reaction work to decrease the reaction rate?

Answer 1

It increases the kinetic energy that the substrates and enzymes have so they move around more often with more force. This means that they are more likely to "lock" together faster which increases the reaction rate. The reaction rate starts decreasing when the enzymatic reaction is heated to the point where the enzyme is denatured (the shape of the active site changes) and because enzymes and their substrates are very specific, they will now no longer fit together and the reaction will not occur.