The kinetics of the reaction between hydrogen and nitrous oxide.─I

Abstract

Until about five years ago, the theoretical treatment of the mechanism of the oxidation of simple molecules had been comparatively neglected. Prior to this, however, considerable progress had been made in the study of the kinetics of thermal and photochemical gas reactions. That knowledge has now been successfully applied and extended to solve some of the major problems in combustion chemistry, and thereby has given rise to the development of the theory of thermal chain reactions. Hitherto, the investigation of these reactions has been confined almost entirely to oxidations by molecular oxygen. It is known, however, that many gases ignite in:nitrous oxide at about the same temperature as they do in oxygen, and it might be anticipated that here, too, a chain process is in operation. The object of studying the interaction of hydrogen and nitrous oxide was to determine whether it is a chain reaction, and if so, to make a detailed analysis of its mechanism by the kinetic method. One of the first criteria in looking for the possibility of the propagation of chains in a gaseous mixture is that the reaction must be exothermic. This condition is amply fulfilled in the present instance, for 75 k. cal. are liberated per mole of water formed. Indeed, the reaction is even more exothermic than the formation of one mole of water from hydrogen and oxygen, when only 50 k. cal. are evolved. This greater exothermicity is due to the fact that 45 k. cal. required to dissociate 1 mole of N 2 O N 2 and O, whereas the production of 1 mole of O atoms from O 2 required about 60 k. cal.