What effect do enzymes have on the thermodynamics of a reaction?

Enzymes are biological catalysts that speed up chemical reactions without being consumed in the process. While they significantly enhance the rate of a reaction by lowering the activation energy, they do not affect the overall thermodynamics. Thermodynamics refers to the energy changes and equilibrium of a reaction, including the free energy difference between reactants and products.

The role of enzymes is to provide an alternative pathway for the reaction with a lower activation energy. This means that while the rate at which equilibrium is reached is affected, the position of equilibrium—the concentration of reactants versus products at equilibrium—remains unchanged. Therefore, enzymes do not influence the free energy change (ΔG) of the reaction.

This understanding is fundamental in biochemistry, highlighting that while enzymes can facilitate and accelerate reactions, they do not alter the thermodynamic properties underpinning those reactions.