Understanding Atmospheric Chemical Reactions (3 of 3) (IMAGE)

American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS)

Understanding Atmospheric Chemical Reactions (3 of 3)

Caption

This is an artist's impression of an atmospheric pollutant molecule (C2H2OH beta-hydroxyvinyl, or BHV) reacting with oxygen (O2). The BHV radical's high-energy vibrational quantum states (hot red and orange colors) are intercepted by O2 (cooler blue colors) before BHV has a chance to relax to lower energy states. This image relates to a paper that appeared in the August 31, 2012, issue of Science, published by AAAS. The paper, by D.R. Glowacki at University of Bristol in Bristol, UK, and colleagues was titled, "Interception of Excited Vibrational Quantum States by O2 in Atmospheric Association Reactions."

Credit

Image courtesy of David Glowacki and Phill Tew

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