Mass Spectral Studies of Kinetics behind Shock Waves. I. Thermal Dissociation of Chlorine

Abstract

The coupling of a shock tube to a time‐of‐flight mass spectrometer for the determination of kinetic data is described whereby analysis is performed every 25 μsec. The rate of dissociation of Cl₂ has been measured over the temperature range 1700°—3200°K under essentially isothermal and isobaric conditions with the observed rate constants in fair agreement with those obtained by the spectroscopic technique. The observed temperature dependence is less than predicted by simple collision theory with an apparent activation energy of 41±5 kcal/mole.