Gas Phase Reactions in Silent Electric Discharges. Part II: Chemical Reactions Involving Electron-Molecule Collisions in Oxygen

The rates of elementary reactions involving electron-molecule collisions which result in chemical transformations are proportional to the charge passing through the reaction chamber and the gap width. A theoretical method is presented which allows calculation of the rate coefficients of these elementary steps. It was assumed that the energy distribution of the collisions is determined by the electric field, and the types and spatial distributions of the gaseous reactants. For validation of the theory, its results are compared with those obtained from traditional kinetic experiments.