Re: Is it possible to figure out quantitative data on enzyme action?

Tessa,
     Yes, indeed, it is possible to experimentally determine numerical, 
quantitative descriptions of enzymatic activity.  This general area of study 
is called enzyme kinetics, and it is a branch of chemical kinetics, which is 
the study of rates and mechanisms of chemical reactions.
     The essential mathematical description of enzyme kinetics is called the 
Michaelis-Menten equation, which relates the rate of an enzymatic reaction 
to the concentration of the substrate (the reactant that the enzyme captures 
and performs chemistry on).   As the concentration of the substrate 
increases, the rate of conversion of substrate to product increases until 
the enzyme, which is present in very small concentrations compared to that 
of the substrate, become saturated.  Further concentrations of the substrate 
do not result in any increase in rate, since all of the enzyme molecules are 
already capturing substrate and converting it into product as their maximum 
rate.  This rate is called the maximum rate, or Vmax.  
      If you can find a graduate-level biochemistry textbook, it will have a 
section on enzyme kinetics.  Here are couple of web sites that also cover 
this important area:
 http://dept.physics.upenn.edu/courses/gladney/mathphys/subsection4_1_6.html 
(has a description of the origin of enzyme kinetics, and how the Michaelis-
Menten equation is derived)
 http://jeffline.tju.edu/CWIS/DEPT/biochemistry/kinetics/HTML/PAGE3A.HTML  
(another, somewhat simpler, description of enzyme kinetics)