Rotational excitation energy

Michaels C A, Lin Z, Mullin A S, Tapalian H C and Flynn G W 1997 Translational and rotational excitation of the C02(00°0) vibrationless state in the collisional quenching of highly vibrationally excited perfluorobenzene evidence for impulsive collisions accompanied by large energy transfers J. Chem. Phys. 106 7055-71... 

The use of molecular and atomic beams is especially useful in studying chemiluminescence because the results of single molecular interactions can be observed without the complications that arise from preceding or subsequent energy-transfer coUisions. Such techniques permit determination of active vibrational states in reactants, the population distributions of electronic, vibrational, and rotational excited products, energy thresholds, reaction probabihties, and scattering angles of the products (181). 

Molecules vibrate at fundamental frequencies that are usually in the mid-infrared. Some overtone and combination transitions occur at shorter wavelengths. Because infrared photons have enough energy to excite rotational motions also, the ir spectmm of a gas consists of rovibrational bands in which each vibrational transition is accompanied by numerous simultaneous rotational transitions. In condensed phases the rotational stmcture is suppressed, but the vibrational frequencies remain highly specific, and information on the molecular environment can often be deduced from hnewidths, frequency shifts, and additional spectral stmcture owing to phonon (thermal acoustic mode) and lattice effects. 

For a useful separation of pathways, the variation in final state distributions within each pathway must be at least somewhat smaller than the variation between pathways. The aforementioned dissociation of H2CO provides a perfect example of this technique, in which the H2 produced through the three-center ehmination leads to extensive rotational excitation of CO, with only moderate vibrational excitation of H2. By contrast, the competing pathway involving roaming of one H atom leaves much less energy in CO rotation, with very significant vibrational excitation of H2 [8]. 

In order to see the effect of the rotational excitation of the parent H2O molecules on the OH vibrational state distribution, the experimental TOF spectrum of the H atom from photodissociation of a room temperature vapor H2O sample has also been measured with longer flight distance y 78 cm). By integrating each individual peak in the translational energy spectrum, the OH product vibrational distribution from H2O photodissociation at room temperature can be obtained. 

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