Enzymes - What's in a name?
What's in a name?
The word enzyme comes from two Greek words meaning "in yeast." German scientist Willy Kuhne came up with the term in 1876. Kuhne noticed that the yeast used to make bread acted as a catalyst, producing a chemical reaction. Once added to the dough in the bread-making
process, yeast splits into sugar molecules. They, in turn, produce alcohol and carbon dioxide. Carbon dioxide gas bubbles trapped in the dough cause it to rise. Kuhne reasoned that yeast was a catalyst for this new chemical compound, so he used the word enzyme to describe other catalysts.
Based on the work of de Reaumur and others, Kuhne understood that digestive juices were also catalysts, because they caused a reaction that broke food down into a simpler form. Catalyst is actually a Swedish word that means "to break down."
[The entire page is 221 words long]
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