Vibrational relaxation in methyl hydrocarbons at high temperatures: propane, isobutene, isobutane, neopentane, and toluene.

Abstract

Vibrational relaxation has been seen in shock waves in propane, isobutene, isobutane, neopentane, and toluene dilute in krypton with the laser-schlieren technique. These experiments cover about 600-2200 K and post-shock pressures from 5 to 29 Torr. The process cannot be resolved in any for T<600 K, or in any for large molecule fraction. All the ultrasonic measurements of relaxation in these at room temperature show characteristic times in the 1-5 ns atm range, corresponding to fewer than five collisions, whereas the relaxation times in the shock waves range from 20 to 200 ns atm, with a clearly defined negative or "inverted" temperature dependence. It would seem the observed slowdown of relaxation with increasing T is simply a consequence of the much increased energy transfer required at high temperature in such large polyatomics when this is combined with a collision efficiency, here interpreted as <DeltaE>down, already so large it cannot much increase. The simple method for the extraction of a <DeltaE>down from relaxation data offered here by consideration of the energy relaxation equation for Evib=0 appears to be original and should prove quite useful in connecting thermal relaxation data to values obtained from spectroscopy and master-equation analyses. Here it is found that the derived <DeltaE>down extrapolate well to room temperature ultrasonic measurements, showing a slight increase with temperature.

• Authors: J H Kiefer, G C Sahukar, S Santhanam, N K Srinivasan, R S Tranter
• Journal: The Journal of chemical physics (J Chem Phys) Vol. 120 Issue 2 Pg. 918-25 (Jan 08 2004) ISSN: 0021-9606 [Print] United States
• PMID: 15267928 (Publication Type: Journal Article)