On the kinetics of the reaction of Zn(1S) with N2O

The rate constant for the reaction of ground state zinc atoms with nitrous oxide at 303 K was determined to be (1.8 ± 0.5)×10⁻¹⁵ cm³ molecule⁻¹ s⁻¹ at pressures of ≈ 10 Torr. In contrast to a previous experiment, no chemiluminescent products were observed. The result, discussed in terms of an ionic intermediate mechanism and recent ZnO electronic structure calculations, is shown to be consistent with the surface crossing model even though the rate constant is orders of magnitude less than those typically used to invoke the model.