Author(s):
Rio, Carolina 
; Wang, Wenli ; Brandão, João
Date: 2014
Persistent ID: http://hdl.handle.net/10400.1/5381
Origin: Sapientia - Universidade do Algarve
Document details
Using the reactions O+H2 -> OH+H to explore the importance of the atomic quantu...
Description
High school students usually learn orbital and electronic configuration of atoms without paying attention to the importance of different quantum states raised from same electronic configuration. In this paper we show that the O + H2 reaction is a particular simple example to alert the importance of a clear definition of the quantum state of an atom when referring to a chemical reaction. In its ground state, O (3P), the oxygen atom reacts with H2 through an energy barrier with small rate constant. In contrast, when the oxygen atom is in its first excited state, O (1D), the reaction O + H2 occurs without energy barrier and the rate constant is seven orders of magnitude higher. The dynamic behaviour of the reaction O + H2 depends also on the quantum state of the oxygen atom.
High school students usually learn orbital and electronic configuration of atoms without paying attention to the importance of different quantum states raised from same electronic configuration. In this paper we show that the O + H2 reaction is a particular simple example to alert the importance of a clear definition of the quantum state of an atom when referring to a chemical reaction. In its ground state, O (3P), the oxygen atom reacts with H2 through an energy barrier with small rate constant. In contrast, when the oxygen atom is in its first excited state, O (1D), the reaction O + H2 occurs without energy barrier and the rate constant is seven orders of magnitude higher. The dynamic behaviour of the reaction O + H2 depends also on the quantum state of the oxygen atom.
Document Type
Article
Language English
Language English
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