Physical Sciences and Mathematics Commons^™

On The Mechanism Of Low-Temperature Termolecular Atomic Recombination, Russell T. Pack, Richard L. Snow, Wesley D. Smith

Faculty Publications

A simple theory of gas-phase termolecular atomic recombination kinetics is presented which treats the bound-complex (BC) mechanism in a fashion which parallels the Roberts, Bernstein, and Curtiss resonance theory of the energy-transfer (ET) mechanism. The ET rate constant has a low temperature maximum, but the BC rate constant does not. The contributions of the two mechanisms to the low-temperature recombination of hydrogen atoms, with He, Ar, and H2 as third bodies, are estimated and compared. The presence (absence) of a low-temperature maximum in the observable total rate constant is determined by absence (presence) of bound vibrational levels of the hydrogen-third …