TEMPERATURE

Temperature changes affect most of the biochemical and physiological processes on our planet (Campbell & Reece, 2002, p.927). Depending on the temperature, the rate of any activity may increase or decrease. Generally, the rate of activity increases as the temperature increases (Schmidt-Nielsen, 1983, p.227). Temperature raises the motion of molecules in matter, and thus it results in higher molecular vibration (Wilmer, 2000, p.193). However, molecules would explode if their rate would reach a very high temperature. This is why when matter hits the point of ‘denaturation,’ it sharply decreases the rate of movement and becomes inactive or dead. In the same way, when the temperature comes close to absolute zero (0 K = -273.15 C), all rate of motion comes down to zero (Campbell & Reece, 2002, p.78). Especially, animals can show a very narrow rage of temperature tolerance (Schmidt-Nielsen, 1983, p. 229). We’ll examine the rate of activity through osmosis, enzyme activity, and respiration. Osmosis is the diffusion of water across a selectively permeable membrane (Campbell & Reece, 2002, Glossary). In the Brownian Movement experiment, the ink should diffuse in the water and its particles should move in the slide at room temperature. Diffusion is the net movement of molecules from a region of higher concentrations to a region of lower concentration through the molecules’ kinetic energy. Gases will disperse and diffuse in a rapid motion when placed together because of its high kinetic energy. Enzymes are proteins that are function as catalysts. Catalysts are chemical agents thata change the rate of a reaction without being consumed by the reaction (Campbell & Reece, 2002, Glossary). Enzyme activity inevitably is changed by temperature. They reacted faster when temperature rose, and reacted slower when the opposite happened.