Question

23. How does Carnot’s gravitational analogy persists in the reaction-coordinate diagrams in chemistry and biochemistry?

Answer 1

The Carnot Cycle describes the thermodynamic cycle where heat is transferred to energy. In biochemistry, the enzymes are flexible protein molecules that can catalyze molecules that go through stages of transition-state between initial and final conformations.

The transition state of the substrate, or the "half-chair" conformation, binds more reactively to the enzyme than the ground or final state

Carnot's gravitational analogy persist in the reaction coordinate diagrams in chemistry and biochemistry in its four processes which are applied in both chemistry and biochemistry.

These processes are the isothermal expansion, adiabatic expansion, isothermal compression, and adiabatic compression. This allows for a positive net work due to two properties of the cycle: reversibility and the largest possible heat transfer between the hottest reservoir to the coldest reservoir.