Experimental and Theoretical Investigation of Collisional Energy Transfer in Free Radicals of Atmospheric Importance

摘要

Collisional relaxation of the atmospherically important free radicals OH and NO by open-shell atoms have been studied in a coordinated theoretical and experimental investigation. A quantum statistical method has been employed to describe collisional processes proceeding through a strongly bound collision complex, such as occur in the interaction of many free radicals with atoms. This theory has been used to compute rotationally and vibrationally inelastic collision rates for collisions of OH with H atoms. Similar calculations for collisions on the lowest potential energy surfaces for OH-O collisions have been carried out, with good agreement with the accompanying experiments. In these experiments, the rate constants for total removal OH(v=1) molecules by O(3P) and N(4S) atoms have been measured in a discharge-flow experiment.