- Written By: H. Colledge
- Edited By: Heather Bailey
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Copyright Protected:
2003-2012 Conjecture Corporation
Hydrolysis is a type of chemical reaction which occurs between water and another substance. During the reaction, a chemical bond is broken in both the water molecule and the other molecule, causing them to break apart. The water molecule splits to form hydrogen and hydroxide ions and the other molecule splits into two simpler sections. Hydrogen and hydroxide ions attach to each of these sections. Hydrolysis is the process involved in food digestion, where it normally occurs under the control of enzymes.
As compounds do not usually react easily with water molecules, industrial hydrolysis uses factors such as high pressure, catalysts and steam to carry out reactions. A catalyst is a substance which enables a reaction to occur at a faster rate. In the body, enzymes such as lipases, carbohydrases and proteases catalyze hydrolysis reactions with fats, carbohydrates and proteins. Laboratory hydrolysis usually requires the use of a catalyst, which is typically an acid or an alkali. A vital process inside cells, the release of stored energy from adenosine triphosphate, or ATP, takes place through hydrolysis.
One example of hydrolysis is the breakdown of starch, which is catalyzed by the enzyme amylase. Starch is broken down into smaller molecules, which consist of the sugar known as maltose. Maltose may then be further broken down into glucose molecules, under the influence of the enzyme maltase. In each case, water takes part in the process, itself splitting and adding a hydroxyl group and a hydrogen ion to the new molecules formed on each side of the broken bond.
Another example of substances being hydrolyzed in nature is seen in the weathering of rocks. Carbon dioxide from the air and soil reacts with water to form carbonic acid. Carbonic acid and water then react with minerals such as feldspar in rocks to produce clay. As clay is relatively soft and easily crumbles or washes away, this causes rocks to break down.
Industrially, hydrolysis has been used for a long time in the production of soap. During this process, known as saponification, fat is hydrolyzed in a reaction with water and sodium hydroxide. The reaction produces fatty acid salts, commonly known as soap. Saponification sometimes occurs in old oil paintings when fatty acids in oil paint react with the metals in paint pigments. This can cause white deposits and lumps to develop on the surface of paintings, although it is not known why it only occurs on some artworks and not others.
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hyrax53
Post 6 |
@DentalFloss- I went to a college that had Norwegian ancestry, and they served lutefisk every year. I had forgotten that it used hydrolysis, though. Funny; I wonder if you could use a piece of lutefisk as soap! |
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DentalFloss
Post 5 |
I personally cannot think of hydrolysis and soap without also thinking of fish- specifically, lutefisk. It is a Norwegian dish, mainly eaten these days by Norwegian Americans. This dish is made by soaking dried, salted fish in lye for an extended amount of time. This makes the fish turn into a sort of gelatinous form, and when cooked it is either boiled or pan fried, usually, and then served. The taste is, well, what you might expect fish covered in lye to taste like. |
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cardsfan27
Post 4 |
Does anyone here have any idea of the industrial processes that use hydrolysis to make their products? I have been trying to think of some, but can't really come up with anything.
Since the article talks about hydrolysis being used to split up starches into glucose, the thing I was kind of thinking about might be in sugar production somehow.
If you had sugar cane or beets or something and needed to separate the sugar from the rest of the plant, you might be able to use hydrolysis to get what you needed.
I was reading something about ethanol the other day, too. Part of the problem with that is that it is hard to separate all of the parts of a plant into things you can and can't use, so I think hydrolysis might have a purpose there, too.
Does anyone else have any ideas? |
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jcraig
Post 3 |
@Izzy78 - I agree. The ways our body gets us nutrients is really spectacular. Besides the things mentioned in the article like breaking down starches, what I was thinking about was how our white blood cells kill bacteria. I don't know it for a fact, but I would be willing to guess that they use some sort of hydrolysis reaction.
I know they have different molecules that they use to break apart, or lyse, bacteria. I assume that they work because the molecules react with the water molecules in the bacteria and cause them to break apart. The interesting thing would be how the white blood cells stop the molecules from tearing them apart.
The other part of the article I like was the weathering of rocks. I knew it was causes by wind and water, but I guess I had never really thought about the actual chemical processes that worked to break down a rock. |
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Izzy78
Post 2 |
@jmc88 - Good question. I actually just got done watching a TV show that demonstrated how they make soap. They talked about hydrolysis, which led me here.
Basically, lye is the sodium hydroxide that was mentioned in the article. Whenever fat and lye mix, they cause the byproducts to form, and that is what we use to wash our hands. The way it works is because the fat molecules can combine with dirt molecules and then the water washes them all away. Obviously, our soap making to day is much more sophisticated, so we don't have to worry about getting burned by lye.
I didn't realize there were so many different things that used hydrolysis, especially in our bodies. Does anyone know if there are any more good examples? |
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jmc88
Post 1 |
Wow, I never knew about the process of saponification. In our house, we have a picture that my great, great grandmother painted of the house they used to live in during the 1800s. As long as I can remember, it has had the little white globs that the article mentioned, but we never knew what caused it or whether we should try to get rid of them. I guess it was just science in action! Now that I know what is causing it, I might be able to look into how to restore the picture if it isn't too much of a problem.
On the same topic of saponification and soap making goes, does that mean that we are washing our hands with fat? How does that help to clean them, and what causes the bubbles and suds to form? I know in the past when they made soap, they used lye. What was that? |
