The displacement in each normal mode should be broken down into all of its symmetry components such that εm,n a = ϕ m,n a µ n where µ n are the normalized displacement tensors of the nth normal mode and ϕ m,n a is a scalar coefficient that describes the projection of µ onto the relevant reaction path, i.e. what amount of the strain energy of this displacement drives the system towards reaction. This value is 0 for modes/deformations entirely unrelated to the reaction and transition state, and is not necessarily a constant for different strain and thermodynamic states. Given the normal modes, these coefficients are easily found by the projection of the activation strains on to the orthonormal tensorial displacements. The application of the appropriate matching stress (order and symmetry) can result in a contribution that decreases (or increases) the activation energy and the reaction rate.