Kinetics and Dynamics of Elementary Gas Reactions


Book Description

Kinetics and Dynamics of Elementary Gas Reactions surveys the state of modern knowledge on elementary gas reactions to understand natural phenomena in terms of molecular behavior. Part 1 of this book describes the theoretical and conceptual background of elementary gas-phase reactions, emphasizing the assumptions and limitations of each theoretical approach, as well as its strengths. In Part 2, selected experimental results are considered to demonstrate the scope of present day techniques and illustrate the application of the theoretical ideas introduced in Part 1. This publication is intended primarily for working kineticists and chemists, but is also beneficial to graduate students.




Gas-Phase Reactions


Book Description

The present monograph appears after the death of Professor V. N. Kondratiev, one of those scientists who have greatly contributed to the foundation of contem porary gas kinetics. The most fundamental idea of chemical kinetics, put for ward at the beginning of the twentieth century and connected with names such as W. Nernst, M. Bodenstein, N. N. Semenov, and C. N. Hinshelwood, was that the complex chemical reactions are in fact a manifestation of a set of simpler elementary reactions involving but a small number of species. V. N. Kondratiev was one of the first to adopt this idea and to start investigations on the elementary chemical reactions proper. These investigations revealed explicitly that every elementary reaction in turn consisted of many elementary events usually referred to as elementary processes. It took some time to realize that an elementary reaction, represented in a very simple way by a macroscopic kinetic equation, can be described on a microscopic level by a generalized Boltzmann equation. Neverheless, up to the middle of the twentieth century, gas kinetics was mainly concerned with the interpretation of complex chemical reactions via a set of elementary reactions. But later on, the situation changed drastically. First, the conditions for reducing microscopic cquations to macroscopic ones were clearly set up. These are essentially based on the fact that the small perturbations of the Maxwell-Boltzmann distribution are caused by the reaction proper.




Reaction Dynamics


Book Description

During the last 30 years our knowledge and understanding of molecular processes has followed the development of increasingly sophisticated tech niques for studying fast reactions. Although the results are reported in papers and reviews, it is sometimes difficult for those not themselves active in these fields to find their way through the mass of published material. We hope that each book in this series will present a clear account of the present state of knowledge in a particular field of physical chemistry to research workers in related fields, to research students, and for the preparation of undergraduate and post-graduate lectures. Each chapter describes the theoretical develop ment of one area of study and the appropriate experimental techniques; the results presented are chosen to illustrate the theory rather than to attempt a comprehensive review. The first volume published in 1972 was concerned with the reactions of small molecules and free radicals in the gas phase. The development of flash photolysis in the 1950s paved the way by making it possible to generate free radicals in sufficient concentration for a spectroscopic" snapshot" to reveal their molecular structure. Their role in kinetic systems could then be followed directly, rather than be inferred from mechanism. The shock tube enabled gas mixtures to be heated to any desired temperature in a time which was shorter than subsequent chemical reactions. Discharge-flow methods enabled the reactions of atoms and free radicals to be studied directly.




Reaction Dynamics


Book Description

This text gives a concise account of the dynamics and kinetics of elementary reactions in the gas phase, and is structured to emphasize the relationship between thermal rate coefficients and the microscopic mechanisms of chemical reactions.




Advances in Chemical Reaction Dynamics


Book Description

This book contains the formal lectures and contributed papers presented at the NATO Advanced Study Institute on. the Advances in Chemical Reaction Dynamics. The meeting convened at the city of Iraklion, Crete, Greece on 25 August 1985 and continued to 7 September 1985. The material presented describes the fundamental and recent advances in experimental and theoretical aspects of, reaction dynamics. A large section is devoted to electronically excited states, ionic species, and free radicals, relevant to chemical sys tems. In addition recent advances in gas phase polymerization, formation of clusters, and energy release processes in energetic materials were presented. Selected papers deal with topics such as the dynamics of electric field effects in low polar solutions, high electric field perturbations and relaxation of dipole equilibria, correlation in picosecond/laser pulse scattering, and applications to fast reaction dynamics. Picosecond transient Raman spectroscopy which has been used for the elucidation of reaction dynamics and structural changes occurring during the course of ultrafast chemical reactions; propagation of turbulent flames and detonations in gaseous· energetic systems are also discussed in some detail. In addition a large portion of the program was devoted to current experimental and theoretical studies of the structure of the transition state as inferred from product state distributions; translational energy release in the photodissociation of aromatic molecules; intramolecu lar and intraionic dynamic processes.







Theories of Molecular Reaction Dynamics


Book Description

This book deals with a central topic at the interface of chemistry and physics - the understanding of how the transformation of matter takes place at the atomic level. Building on the laws of physics, the book focuses on the theoretical framework for predicting the outcome of chemical reactions. The style is highly systematic with attention to basic concepts and clarity of presentation. Molecular reaction dynamics is about the detailed atomic-level description of chemical reactions. Based on quantum mechanics and statistical mechanics or, as an approximation, classical mechanics, the dynamics of uni- and bi-molecular elementary reactions are described. The book features a detailed presentation of transition-state theory which plays an important role in practice, and a comprehensive discussion of basic theories of reaction dynamics in condensed phases. Examples and end-of-chapter problems are included in order to illustrate the theory and its connection to chemical problems.