BRAINCAKEThe Effect on Organisms
Temperature affects living organisms mainly through its effect on enzymes, which control every metabolic reaction.
As temperature rises, molecules have more kinetic energy, so enzyme and substrate molecules collide more often and more collisions have enough energy to react. More enzyme-substrate complexes form and the rate of reaction increases. Above the optimum temperature, vibrations break the hydrogen bonds and other bonds holding the tertiary structure together. The active site changes shape, the substrate no longer fits, and the enzyme is denatured, so the rate falls rapidly.
The effect of temperature on rate is measured by the temperature coefficient, Q10:
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