How does competitive inhibition slow the rate of a reaction and how can its effect be reversed.

Competitive inhibitors act to slow the rate of a reaction by actively competing with the substrate at the active site of the molecule it wishes to bind to. If this active site contains an inhibitor then the substrate will no longer be able to bind. The effect of a competitive inhibitor can be reversed by increasing the concentration of the substrate. This increases the reaction rate between the substrate and molecule and thus will out compete the combative inhibitor fir binding to the molecules active site.