How do enzymes affect gibbs free energy?

1 Answer
Ernest Z.
Mar 15, 2014

Enzymes decrease the Gibbs free energy of activation, but they have no effect on the free energy of reaction.

Enzymes work by lowering the activation energy (#E_a# or #ΔG^✳#) for a reaction. This increases the reaction rate.

biowiki.ucdavis.edu

Free energy of reaction =
free energy of product - free energy of substrate

The free energy of the product is the same as it would be without the enzyme. Thus, the enzyme does not affect the free energy of the reaction.

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