Dissociation diatomic

If the adsorbing molecule dissociates into two or more fragments, each requiring a site, the fraction covered (coverage) differs from that given by equation 8.4-11. For example, consider the adsorption of a dissociating diatomic molecule, B2 ... 

Much information can be gleaned from the linearized forms of equations (87) (90) that are applicable for small departures from a uniform quiescent state of chemical equilibrium. For simplicity, we shall consider here only a binary ideal gas mixture experiencing the reaction A B. All the essential physical phenomena can be exhibited in this special case. Corresponding analyses for a simple dissociating diatomic gas [62] and for a gas experiencing an arbitrary one-step reaction [59] may be found in the literature. 

Near-degeneracies in dissociating diatomic molecules are of particular importance in the theory of interatomic forces. Consider, for example, the Hg molecule. 

S.-B. Zhu and G. W. Robinson, J. Phys. Chem., 93, 164 (1989). Ultrafast Dynamics of a Quasi-Dissociative Diatomic Molecule in Solution. 

Here, v is the frequency of the unexcited oscillator in the dissociating diatomic molecule co is a parameter which depends on the shape of potential at the potential hill between reactants and products, k is proportional to corresponding to diflusion limited reaction. It is well known that unimolecular reactions in liquids are in general not influenced by the carrier medium in the way predicted by equation... 

The direct dissociation of diatomic molecules is the most well studied process in gas-surface dynamics, the one for which the combination of surface science and molecular beam teclmiques allied to the computation of total energies and detailed and painstaking solution of the molecular dynamics has been most successful. The result is a substantial body of knowledge concerning the importance of the various degrees of freedom (e.g. molecular rotation) to the reaction dynamics, the details of which are contained in a number of review articles [2, 36, 37, 38, 39, 40 and 41]. 

Figure A3.9.8. An elbow potential energy surface representing the dissociation of a diatomic in two dimensions-the molecular bond lengdi and tlie distance from the molecule to the surface.

Molecular rotation has two competing influences on the dissociation of diatomics [, and ]. A molecule will only be able to dissociate if its bond is oriented correctly with respect to the plane of the surface. If the bond is parallel to the plane, then dissociation will take place, whereas if the molecule is end-on to the surface, dissociation requires one atom to be ejected into the gas phase. In most cases, this reverse Eley-RideaF process is energetically very... 

Darling G R and Holloway S 1995 Tlie dissociation of diatomic molecules Prog. Phys.. 58 1595... 

Kaye J A and Kuppermann A 1988 Mass effect in quantum-mechanical collision-induced dissociation in collinear reactive atom diatomic molecule collisions Chem. Phys. 125 279-91... 

Fast transient studies are largely focused on elementary kinetic processes in atoms and molecules, i.e., on unimolecular and bimolecular reactions with first and second order kinetics, respectively (although confonnational heterogeneity in macromolecules may lead to the observation of more complicated unimolecular kinetics). Examples of fast thennally activated unimolecular processes include dissociation reactions in molecules as simple as diatomics, and isomerization and tautomerization reactions in polyatomic molecules. A very rough estimate of the minimum time scale required for an elementary unimolecular reaction may be obtained from the Arrhenius expression for the reaction rate constant, k = A. The quantity /cg T//i from transition state theory provides... 

A simple example would be in a study of a diatomic molecule that in a Hartree-Fock calculation has a bonded cr orbital as the highest occupied MO (HOMO) and a a lowest unoccupied MO (LUMO). A CASSCF calculation would then use the two a electrons and set up four CSFs with single and double excitations from the HOMO into the a orbital. This allows the bond dissociation to be described correctly, with different amounts of the neutral atoms, ion pair, and bonded pair controlled by the Cl coefficients, with the optimal shapes of the orbitals also being found. For more complicated systems... 

A more useful quantity for comparison with experiment is the heat of formation, which is defined as the enthalpy change when one mole of a compound is formed from its constituent elements in their standard states. The heat of formation can thus be calculated by subtracting the heats of atomisation of the elements and the atomic ionisation energies from the total energy. Unfortunately, ab initio calculations that do not include electron correlation (which we will discuss in Chapter 3) provide uniformly poor estimates of heats of formation w ith errors in bond dissociation energies of 25-40 kcal/mol, even at the Hartree-Fock limit for diatomic molecules. 

This difference is shown in the next illustration which presents the qualitative form of a potential curve for a diatomic molecule for both a molecular mechanics method (like AMBER) or a semi-empirical method (like AMI). At large internuclear distances, the differences between the two methods are obvious. With AMI, the molecule properly dissociates into atoms, while the AMBERpoten-tial continues to rise. However, in explorations of the potential curve only around the minimum, results from the two methods might be rather similar. Indeed, it is quite possible that AMBER will give more accurate structural results than AMI. This is due to the closer link between experimental data and computed results of molecular mechanics calculations. 

Equation (6.8), to (d /dx)g. Figure 6.1 shows how the magnitude /r of the dipole moment varies with intemuclear distance in a typical heteronuclear diatomic molecule. Obviously, /r 0 when r 0 and the nuclei coalesce. For neutral diatomics, /r 0 when r qg because the molecule dissociates into neutral atoms. Therefore, between r = 0 and r = oo there must be a maximum value of /r. Figure 6.1 has been drawn with this maximum at r < Tg, giving a negative slope d/r/dr at r. If the maximum were at r > Tg there would be a positive slope at r. It is possible that the maximum is at r, in which case d/r/dr = 0 at Tg and the Av = transitions, although allowed, would have zero intensity. 

In a diatomic molecule one of the main effects of mechanical anharmonicity, the only type that concerns us in detail, is to cause the vibrational energy levels to close up smoothly with increasing v, as shown in Figure 6.4. The separation of the levels becomes zero at the limit of dissociation. 

An Xc2 excimer laser has been made to operate in this way, but of much greater importance are the noble gas halide lasers. These halides also have repulsive ground states and bound excited states they are examples of exciplexes. An exciplex is a complex consisting, in a diatomic molecule, of two different atoms, which is stable in an excited electronic state but dissociates readily in the ground state. In spite of this clear distinction between an excimer and an exciplex it is now common for all such lasers to be called excimer lasers. 

All heteronuclear diatomic molecules, in their ground electronic state, dissociate into neutral atoms, however strongly polar they may be. The simple explanation for this is that dissociation into a positive and a negative ion is much less likely because of the attractive force between the ions even at a relatively large separation. The highly polar Nal molecule is no exception. The lowest energy dissociation process is... 

Iodine vapor is characterized by the familiar violet color and by its unusually high specific gravity, approximately nine times that of air. The vapor is made up of diatomic molecules at low temperatures at moderately elevated temperatures, dissociation becomes appreciable. The concentration of monoatomic molecules, for example, is 1.4% at 600°C and 101.3 kPa (1 atm) total pressure. Iodine is fluorescent at low pressures and rotates the plane of polarized light when placed in a magnetic field. It is also thermoluminescent, emitting visible light when heated at 500°C or higher. 

For equation 26, starting with methane and soHd sulfur at 25°C, and ending with gaseous products at 600°C, the reaction is endothermic and requires 2.95 MJ /kg (705 kcal/kg) of CS2. The reaction of methane and sulfur vapor in the diatomic form is actually exothermic (23,78). Superheating of the sulfur is claimed to be preferable (79), and series operation of reactors offers a means of reducing process temperatures at which the sulfur dissociates (80). 

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