Figure B1.

How the EAAR model and other models bend Arrhenius type functions to create a unimodal function. (a) Most models assume a maximal reaction rate (red line) that is discounted by lowered probability of enzyme performance, reducing the reaction rate to the blue line. Note that model 1 has a lowered performance region only at high temperature. (b) The EAAR model begins with the assumption that there is a physical baseline reaction rate (black line) that may occur outside of an organism and that has a relatively high activation energy. Inside an organism, enzymes assist the process by lowering the activation energy, boosting the reaction rate above what would otherwise be expected, to the blue line