Hydroxyl radical atmospheric vacuum

Following fires in which endotracheal tubes became ignited by surgical lasers or electrocautery in atmospheres enriched by oxygen and/or nitrous oxide, the flammability of PVC, silicone rubber and red rubber tubes in enriched atmospheres was studied [1], Ozonised oxygen was reacted with hydrogen at low pressure to generate hydroxyl radicals. Pressure in the apparatus was maintained by a vacuum pump protected from ozone by a tube of heated silver foil. On two occasions there was an explosion in the plastic vent pipe from the vacuum pump. The vent gas should have been outside explosive limits and the exact cause is not clear the editor suspects peroxide formation. 

There is a variety of processes that act to remove a trace gas from either the troposphere or the stratosphere. For oxygenated VOCs the main tropospheric loss occurs via gas phase oxidation reactions involving OH, O3, NO and Cl radicals, and photolysis. However, the hydroxyl radical is the most important oxidizing species in the global troposphere [16-19]. As a result of its role in initiating the majority of oxidation reaction chains, the OH radical is the primary cleansing agent for the lower atmosphere and has been called the "tropospheric vacuum cleaner" [20]. The dominant production cycle for tropospheric OH involves the reaction of 0( D), produced from the photolysis of O3, with H2O ... 

As you can see, the free radical reaction initiates a slow burning of CH4 in a series of steps that produce carbon dioxide and water and some additional free radicals. The hydroxyl radical initiates similar reactions with other pollutants as weU as undesirable naturally occurring atmospheric gases. Without the hydroxyl free radical— sometimes called the atmospheric vacuum cleaner—our atmosphere would be a much dirtier place. 

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