Adsorption of oxygen on the (110) plane of tungsten at low temperatures

Isotope labelling experiments have established that the adsorption of O₂ on the W(110) plane at 20 K leads first to the formation of a dissociated atomic layer. A weakly bound molecular species, α-O₂, forms only when the atomic layer is essentially complete (O/W = 0.6). The desorption of α-O₂ was found to be first order with an activation energy of $\text{E = 1.9}\text{kcal}\text{mole}$ and a frequency factor γ = 3 × 10⁹ s^?1. The activation energy is shown to be less than the enthalpy of desorption and the meaning of this result is discussed.