Some aspects of theory and experiment in the ethane–methyl radical system

Abstract

Abstract A critical examination has been made of some aspects of the thermal decomposition of ethane and the reverse recombination reaction. The experimental Arrhenius A ‐factors for ethane are, in general, smaller than those which are calculated from thermodynamic quantities together with the observed rate constants for methyl recombination. Theoretical calculations also illustrate a discrepancy between the experimental work on recombination and decomposition. The experimental shapes of k / k α falloff curves and the pressure region of falloff are compared with the predictions of RRKM theory for various models.