| Abstract: | The recombination of carbon monoxide and oxygen atoms was studied in reflected shock waves in H2:O2:CO:Ar = 0.1:1:24:75 with 1300 < T5 2200 K and 2 < P5 < 4 atm. Reaction progress was monitored by observations of the carbon monoxide flame spectrum near 435 nm and carbon dioxide thermal emission near 4.2 μm. Data analysis was accomplished with the aid of computer modeling using a 27-reaction mechanism. Computer modeling experiments also showed that these measurements were sensitive primarily to the rate of the reaction CO + O + M = CO2 + M and only slightly sensitive to the rates of other reactions. The best fit to the data was achieved with a rate constant for this reaction of 7.7 × 10?35 exp[19 kJ/RT] cm6 s for the temperature range of these experiments. Correlation of this result and previous data covering the temperature range 250 < T < 11,000 K confirms that this recombination reaction is governed by a nonadiabatic curve crossing with an activation barrier of about 20 kJ and subsequent deactivation of a singlet CO2 molecule. |
