Effects of Competitive Inhibition on Enzyme Kinetics

Enzymes are biological catalysts that significantly speed up the rate of chemical reactions in biological systems. They do this by lowering the activation energy required for a reaction to occur. One key feature of enzymes is their specificity, meaning that each enzyme typically catalyzes only one specific reaction or a set of closely related reactions. Enzymes demonstrate various properties, including allosteric regulation, competitive inhibition, and the impact of pH and temperature on their activity. Consider the following statement regarding enzyme activity:

During a graphical representation of enzyme kinetics, which of the following statements best describes what occurs when a competitive inhibitor is introduced into the reaction?