REACTIVE SCATTERING OF A NEON SEEDED OXYGEN ATOM BEAM

A high pressure microwave discharge source operating with a dilute mixture of O2 in Ne has been used to produce a supersonic nozzle beam of O atoms seeded in Ne. This low energy supersonic O atom beam has been used to study the reactive scattering of O atoms with Cl2 and CS2 molecules at an initial translational energy E = 13 kJ mol-1. The results are compared with rective scattering from the same reactions using a high energy O atom beam formed by seeding O atoms in He. The O + Cl2 reaction proceeds via a short-lived collision complex where the lifetime of the collision complex depends upon the initial translational energy. However the O + CS2 reaction follows a stripping mechanism which is unaffected by initial translational energy. © 1978.