Kinetics of the Reaction of Atomic Hydrogen with Acetylene

Abstract

A study has been made of the rate of recombination of atomic hydrogen in the presence and in the absence of the homogeneous catalyst, acetylene. The recombination in the absence of acetylene has a negative temperature coefficient and an order between one and two. The acetylene catalyzed recombination was found to be first order in atomic hydrogen and first order in acetylene, with a rate constant of 1.3₄×10⁻¹⁴ cc molecules⁻¹ sec.⁻¹ at 17°C. The effect of temperature on the reaction corresponded to a collision theory activation energy of 1.5 kcal./mole and a steric factor of 4×10⁻⁴.