Question

in many chemical reactions, the activation energy can be high for the process to occur naturally. if both curves represent the same reaction, what happened in the reaction represented by the bottom curve?
an enzyme lowered the activation energy needed in the reaction.
an enzyme increased the activation energy to speed up the reaction.
an inhibitor lowered activation energy to slow down the reaction.
an inhibitor lowered activation energy to speed up the reaction.

Explanation:

Enzymes are biological catalysts. Catalysts lower the activation energy of a reaction. A lower activation energy means the reaction can occur more easily. Inhibitors, on the other hand, slow down reactions (they do not lower activation energy to speed up reactions). Also, increasing activation energy would make the reaction less likely to occur (not speed it up).

Answer:

An enzyme lowered the activation energy needed in the reaction.