Crossed beam study of reactive collisions H2/O at several excited states

Reactions involving H2/O collisions, as found in the chemistry of the upper atmosphere and in the combustion of hydrogen are discussed. Atomic oxygen is produced in its excited state in a radio frequency discharge which dissociates the molecular oxygen seeded in a carrier gas. The hydrogen molecules are excited vibrationally by electron bombardment. Time of flight measurements show the competition between the abstraction and insertion-dissociation mechanisms. The analysis of the spontaneous fluorescence of OH radicals reveals a very hot and non-Boltzmannn rotational excitation.