The Alpha-Particle Reactions in Carbon Monoxide, Oxygen and Carbon Dioxide Systems

The methods developed by Eyring, Hirschfelder and Taylor for the analysis of the alpha-particle reactions in hydrogen and hydrogen-bromine systems have been extended to the corresponding reactions in carbon monoxide, oxygen, and carbon-dioxide systems and to mixtures of these gases. It has been shown that experimentally known processes of ionization and of excitation, together with the probable neutralization processes, with consequent chemical reactions involving the atomic species so produced, suffice to account quantitatively for the observed experimental results. This extends the scope of the method employed to typical alpha-particle reactions of decomposition, ozonization and oxidation hitherto interpreted in terms of a clustering mechanism.