Reactive scattering of electronically excited alkali atoms with molecules

Conference · Mon Jun 01 00:00:00 EDT 1987

OSTI ID:6237354

Mestdagh, J M; Balko, B A; Covinsky, M H; Weiss, P S; Vernon, M F; Schmidt, H; Lee, Y T

Representative families of excited alkali atom reactions have been studied using a crossed beam apparatus. For those alkali-molecule systems in which reactions are also known for ground state alkali and involve an early electron transfer step, no large differences are observed in the reactivity as Na is excited. More interesting are the reactions with hydrogen halides (HCl): it was found that adding electronic energy into Na changes the reaction mechanism. Early electron transfer is responsible of Na(5S, 4D) reactions, but not of Na(3P) reactions. Moreover, the NaCl product scattering is dominated by the HCl/sup -/ repulsion in Na(5S, 4D) reactions, and by the NaCl-H repulsion in the case of Na(3P). The reaction of Na with O/sub 2/ is of particular interest since it was found to be state specific. Only Na(4D) reacts, and the reaction requires restrictive constraints on the impact parameter and the reactants' relative orientation. The reaction with NO/sub 2/ is even more complex since Na(4D) leads to the formation of NaO by two different pathways. It must be mentioned however, that the identification of NaO as product in these reactions has yet to be confirmed.

• Research Organization: Lawrence Berkeley Lab., CA (USA)
• DOE Contract Number: AC03-76SF00098
• OSTI ID: 6237354
• Report Number(s): LBL-23588; CONF-8709113-1; ON: DE87012878
• Conference Information: Faraday discussion on dynamics of elementary gas phase reactions, Birmingham, UK, 14 Sep 1987
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

37 INORGANIC, ORGANIC, PHYSICAL, AND ANALYTICAL CHEMISTRY
400201 -- Chemical & Physicochemical Properties
640304* -- Atomic
Molecular & Chemical Physics-- Collision Phenomena
74 ATOMIC AND MOLECULAR PHYSICS
ALKALI METAL COMPOUNDS
ALKALI METALS
ANGULAR DISTRIBUTION
ATOM COLLISIONS
ATOM-MOLECULE COLLISIONS
CHEMICAL REACTION KINETICS
CHEMICAL REACTIONS
CHLORINE
COLLISIONS
DISTRIBUTION
ELECTROMAGNETIC RADIATION
ELECTRON TRANSFER
ELEMENTS
ENERGY SPECTRA
HALOGENS
KINETICS
LASER RADIATION
MASS SPECTROMETERS
MEASURING INSTRUMENTS
MEASURING METHODS
METALS
MOLECULE COLLISIONS
NONMETALS
OXYGEN
RADIATIONS
REACTION KINETICS
SCATTERING
SODIUM
SODIUM COMPOUNDS
SPECTRA
SPECTROMETERS
VELOCITY