Mass spectrometric study of the reaction of hydrogen atoms with ethane

The reaction of hydrogen atoms with ethane has been studied over the temperature range 357–544 K at a constant pressure of 4 Torr using a flow discharge system linked to a quadrupole mass spectrometer.Experiments involved both use of excess hydrogen atoms and of ethane and the results yield Arrhenius parameters for the process H + C2H6→ C2H5+ H2(1) and the stoichiometry of the overall reaction as a function of temperature. We find, k1/cm3 mol–1 s–1= 1014.03 ± 0.27 exp(–38.6 ± 2.6 kJ mol–1/RT) in excellent agreement with a previous study conducted in this laboratory. The findings confirm that the Arrhenius plot for reaction (1) is linear over a range of 1000 K.