How does catalase lower the activation energy?
I think what you mean is ‘How does a catalyst lower activation energy?’ The activation energy of any reaction is the amount of energy it takes to get something going. Take a fire – you need some heat to get it going – this is the activation energy – it is only when it is really hot and dry that forests burst into flames, normally they don’t because the activation energy is too high for them to burst into flames. When the sun shines and everything gets too dry, the activation energy is much lower and just one discarded cigarette butt will cause the fire. I’m not sure if it is strictly correct, but the cigarette butt is a sort of catalyst in this regard – the forest would have burst into flames eventually even without the cigarette butt, however, the reaction was faster with the cigarette butt. The cigarette butt provided just enough energy to activate the fire – it lowered the activation energy. Biological and chemical catalysts speed up reactions because they also lower the activation
