Why cant living cells use large amounts of heat to speed up chemical reactions?

Answer 1

Large amounts of heat would basically kill the cell. Only a few bacteria can live at high temperatures around boiling point, but nothing can survive at higher temperatures. Human cells begin to malfunction even if only a few degrees out from their optimum temperature.

Answer 2

I'm not a chemist or a biologist but at an educated guess I would say that most living cells are unable to exist at higher temperatures: the complex and volatile chemicals needed in the nucleus are destroyed, and the extra energy in the water based cytoplasm causes cell membranes to rupture. I don't know what the temperature point is where amino acids break down but in most plant life for example productivity is increased up to about 40 degrees C, and anything above that kills the plant itself.

Answer 3

Chemical reactions inside living organisms are mediated by enzymes, which are specialized proteins. The functioning of enzymes relies on two things -- first, the shape of the enzyme, second, binding of a substrate (whatever it is the enzyme acts upon) to the enzyme. Both of these -- the shape and the binding -- are the result of chemical bonds. Bonds need to form between the amino acids of the protein to shape the protein, and the substrate needs to bond to the protein in order to be acted upon. However, all bonds can be broken, and one of the ways to break bonds is to increase the energy of the bond. Heat, of course, is a form of energy. Thus, cells can not use large amounts of heat to speed-up the process because too much energy will either disrupt enzyme-substrate pairing (which is generally reversible), or completely denature the protein structure (i.e. break the bonds between amino acids, which is not reversible).

One of the changes that occurs within meat when you cook it is the denaturing of proteins. Living organisms can not use excessive heat, because they would, essentially, cook themselves.

Answer 4

There are many factors involved in chemical reactions balance inside the cells (concentration of substrate and product, presence of enzymes...). Therefore heat isn't, by itself, capable to incresead chemical reactions speed.

Besides, heating living tissue causes damages to the cells and may even block some chemical reactions.

Answer 5

because a in crease in temperature slows down cells the colder the faster the cells will move around

Answer 6

Heat is not appropriate to speed up a specific biochemical reaction in living organisms because it will denature the bonds making the cells cook themselves.