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U.S. Department of Energy
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Collisional energy exchange in polyatomic molecules. Final technical report, 1 January 1980-31 December 1982

Technical Report ·
OSTI ID:5423263

Fourier Transform Infrared Spectrometry (FTIS) has been used to study several kinds of gas-gas and gas-surface collision processes brought about with and in supersonic free jets in vacuo. Following are some key results: (1) Terminal distributions of rotational energy in free jets of CO and CO2 show a non-Boltzmann distribution that can be characterized by a two-temperature model and explained in terms of competition between rotation-rotation and rotation-translation transfers. (2) Spectra of CO2 molecules excited by collisions with N2 molecules indicated similar two-temperature distributions, possibly due to secondary collisions between excited CO2 and N2. (3) The accommodations of vibrational and rotational energy during collisions between CO, CO2 and NO molecules and hot platinum surfaces has been determined over a range of surface temperatures. (4) Excess internal energies have been determined in nascent CO and CO2 molecules formed respectively by catalytic oxidation of C and CO on a platinum surface. An energy balance indicates that about 1/3 of the available reaction energy is absorbed by the surface, the remainder going mostly into vibrational modes of product molecules.

Research Organization:
Yale Univ., New Haven, CT (USA). Dept. of Chemical Engineering
OSTI ID:
5423263
Report Number(s):
AD-A-133942/3
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English