Kinetics of OH Radicals as Determined by Their Absorption Spectrum II. The Electric Discharge Through H2O2

Abstract

In order to study the kinetics of OH radicals in H2O2 the concentration of OH as a function of time is measured by the decay of the intensity of the OH absorption bands after interrupting an electric discharge through H2O2. For each snapshot a new supply of H2O2 is introduced into the absorption tube and partly decomposed into OH+OH by an electric discharge of brief duration. OH radicals disappear in H2O2 much more rapidly than in H2O. This indicates a bimolecular reaction OH+H2O2. The emission spectrum of OH shows abnormal rotation of OH even more strongly when excited in H2O2 than in H2O, the rotation being determined not by the temperature but by the simultaneous dissociation and excitation producing the OH radicals observed.