Statistical partitioning of electronic energy: Reactions of alkali dimers with halogen atoms

The phase space theory of chemical kinetics is applied to reactions of alkali dimers with halogen atoms. Predicted populations of excited electronic states of the product alkali atoms are in good agreement with the results of recent chemiluminescence experiments. This agreement suggests that for this system, in contrast to most other thermal energy collision processes, there is relatively free transfer of energy between electronic and other internal degrees of freedom during reaction.