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Home Q & A Board Biology-Related Homework Help Biochemistry
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Hog95 Hog95
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11 years ago
The Second Law of Thermodynamics states that the entropy (disorder) of a system and its surroundings always increases for a spontaneous process. So why do proteins fold up spontaneously? It is evident that protein folding moves from a disorderly state (randomly unfolded proteins) to an orderly state (folded proteins). Explain.
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#1
Educator
11 years ago
As explained in the chapter—folded globular proteins have a hydrophobic interior. The process of folding releases water molecules, which would have been otherwise kept hydrogen bonded to the protein chain. Thus the “surroundings” have an increased entropy although the “system”—the protein itself—has a decrease. The negative (favorable) enthalpy changes when weak bonds form as a protein folds correctly also tend to result in
a favorable (negative) free-energy change.
Hog95 Author
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#2
11 years ago
Thank you.
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