Question The digestion of food involves the body’s use of enzymes to assist in breaking down organic compounds. The following chart illustrates the amount of time necessary for protein digestion in varying conditions. Digestion Rates or Protein Reaction Seconds Protein only 60 Protein + Acid 30 Protein + Acid + Enzyme 10 This chart provides evidence that enzymes (1 point) Responses dissolve in water dissolve in water maintain a specific pH maintain a specific pH slow down chemical reactions slow down chemical reactions speed up chemical reactions

speed up chemical reactions

The chart provides evidence that enzymes speed up chemical reactions.

The chart provided shows the amount of time necessary for protein digestion under different conditions. Based on this information, we can deduce the role of enzymes in this process.

Enzymes are biological catalysts that speed up chemical reactions in living organisms. In the case of digestion, enzymes assist in breaking down organic compounds, such as proteins, into smaller molecules that can be absorbed by the body. From the given chart, we can see that the digestion of protein takes the longest when only protein is present, with a digestion time of 60 seconds.

However, when acid is added along with the protein, the digestion time decreases to 30 seconds. This suggests that the acid helps in breaking down the protein but does not significantly speed up the digestion process.

Finally, when an enzyme is introduced along with the protein and acid, the digestion time decreases even further to 10 seconds. This indicates that the presence of the enzyme significantly speeds up the digestion of protein.

Therefore, based on the information provided in the chart, we can conclude that enzymes speed up chemical reactions, specifically the digestion of proteins in this case.