How does acidity affect enzymes in the cytoplasm of a cell?

Enzymes are biological catalysts which increase the rate of biochemical reactions without undergoing any change themselves. They bind with the substrate to form a enzyme substrate complex leding to the formation of product releasing free enzyme.

Enzymes have an optimum pH at which they show their maximum activity. Any change in the pH effects the enzyme and the enzymatic reaction. Most of the enzymes are functional at the neutral pH of 7 in the cell cytoplasm with a few exceptions. An acidic environment in the cell, changes the tertiary structure of the enzymes and the bonds of the enzymes are weakened. Thus, preventing the substrate binding to the active site of the enzyme and inhibiting catalysis. This is due to the change in the structure of the active site leading to the lack of electrostatic attraction between the enzyme and the substrate.

cells use diffusion to get substances in and out of themselves. that diffusion will occur across the cell membrane or the outer covering of the cell. because we are talking about the surface of the cell, surface area and volume are  important factors here. as a cell increases in size, its surface area and volume increase as well.  we call that the surface area to volume ratio (sa: vol).  but the catch is that  volume increases at a greater rate than surface  area. in other words, as a cell gets bigger, the sa: vol gets smaller. so a really small cell like bacteria is mostly cell membrane (surface) with very little contents (volume). a really big cell like an egg, is mostly insides with a super thin membrane. so what ends up happening is that the cell cannot efficiently diffuse all of the stuff it needs in/out to survive. therefore cell size is limited to about 100mm. so how do we make organisms bigger than 100mm? cells divide! by dividing and becoming multicellular, organisms are able to grow!   check out the diagrams i attached to see the effect of sa: vol. i hope this ! good luck!