Anonymous: Can I have your enzymes? You're so hot you denatured all mine.

:

Toaster. No digestive system. No enzymes.

Also, what the hell is that supposed to mean.

Enzymes are proteins. The tertiary and quaternary structures of proteins are fragile and tend to come apart under conditions less than optimal. This loss of shape, called denaturation, occurs as ionic and H- bonds break. Salty envionments (excess Na+ and Cl-), acidic envionments (too much H+), and alkaline envionments (too little H+ ) break ionic and H- bonds interfering with their electric charges.

Heat causes movement within molecules, which disturb their relatively weak bonds. Once denaturated, most proteins will not re-form their original shape. Proteins usually exposed to unusual envionments have tertiary and quaternary structures held by covalent bonds, between the sulfur atoms of cysteine.