Activation energy for the acid catalysed hydrolysis of sucrose is `6.22 kJ mol^(-1)`, while the activation energy is only `2.15 kJ mol^(-1)` when hydrolysis is catalysed by the enzyme sucrase. Explain.

Explanation

Enzymes are biocatalysts. They reudce the magnitude of activation energy by providing alternative path. For example, in the hydrolysis of sucrose , the enzyme sucrase reduces the activation energy from `6.22 kj mol^(-1)` to `2.15kj mol^(-1)`. As a result , enzyme catalysed reactions occur at a much faster rate than the ordinary laboratory chemical reactions using conventional catalysts.