The Dissociation of H2O into H+OH

Abstract

The energy of dissociation of H2O into H+OH was measured by an experiment developed from the method of Bonhoeffer and Reichardt. A spectrograph of high resolving power served for the measurement of the intensity of the absorption spectrum of OH in a heated mixture of water vapor and oxygen. The result (for 0°K) was H+OH→H2O−118.2±0.7 kcal. and O+H→OH−100.1±0.9 kcal. The probabilities of transition of the lines of the OH band were recomputed.