,

where is the rate constant for a given cell, is the temperature at which the value was measured (in this case, 298 K), is the gas constant 8.3145 J , is the temperature and is the resulting rate for the given .

In the graphic, the rates of respiration as a function of cell type and temperature are represented by exponential plots. Also shown is an animation of the cell with oxygen input and water output from mitochondria, scaled by the relative rates. Oxygen consumption can be used as a proxy for the rate of cell respiration, in view of the simplified chemical equation: The values have been selected based on data from the measurement of oxygen consumption/protein production. The movement of other reactants and products through the cell, other intermediates and substrates, is neglected.

For best viewing, we suggest manipulating the temperature slider, then moving the time slider.