Kinematic (mass) effects in reactions of the type H+H L→H H+L

Abstract

To get a better understanding of reactions such as Ba+HCl→BaCl+H 3D trajectory calculations of the type H→HL→HH+L (H = heavy, L = light) were performed on a number of different model potentials, at different collision energies. The study was mainly devoted to a systematic search for kinematic effects caused by the special mass combination. In (H→HL) reactions, kinematics play a dominant role in the reaction probability and in the impact parameter dependence of the product molecule energies. It is therefore possible to draw further information from direct experimental results. All kinematic effects found can be simply explained by the relatively small moment of inertia of the light particle. Some insight into the dynamics of such reactions is also obtained.