Science Blog - Chemists Observe Key Reaction for Producing 'Atmosphere’s Detergent'
A University of Pennsylvania team has now observed one of these rapid atmospheric reactions in the lab. They identify an important intermediate molecule and track its transformation to hydroxyl radicals, also demonstrating the amount of energy necessary for the reaction to take place.
Their findings help explain how the atmosphere maintains its reserves of hydroxyl radicals, highly reactive molecules that are called the “atmosphere’s detergent.”
Lester’s team is now the first to track a Criegee intermediate through the reaction that results in a hydroxyl radical, using a technique known as infrared action spectroscopy.
“We used a laser to generate a ‘fingerprint’ of this intermediate molecule, based on the wavelengths of light it absorbs,” Lester said. “The laser also supplies the energy necessary to drive the reaction, which would be provided by heat under atmospheric conditions.”
“At the end,” said Beames, “we also detected the hydroxyl radicals, so we’re the first to actually show that the hydroxyl radicals are produced directly from the Criegee intermediate.”
“We see that a hydrogen atom from one end of the intermediate molecule transfers over and bonds to an oxygen atom on the other side,” said Liu. “The molecule then breaks apart, resulting in a hydroxyl radical.”
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday September 27 2014, @06:10AM
Don't post stuff from scienceblog.com. They simply regurgitate university PR verbiage written for science-illiterates media hacks. The crappy summary is a good indicator of their quality.
(Score: 2) by AnonTechie on Saturday September 27 2014, @09:26AM
Hey Readers,
It would much appreciated if you could let us know which sources are acceptable to SN and which sources are to be avoided. Maybe, we could conduct a survey to find out which sources are highly rated by SN readers.
Albert Einstein - "Only two things are infinite, the universe and human stupidity, and I'm not sure about the former."
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday September 27 2014, @12:34PM
It would help if you actually read the linked piece and grok what it's about.
(Score: 2) by Reziac on Sunday September 28 2014, @02:34AM
If I knew what sources are best to use, I wouldn't have to come to SN to read the news!
And there is no Alkibiades to come back and save us from ourselves.
(Score: 2) by EvilJim on Sunday September 28 2014, @10:46PM
This is the internet, no sources are acceptable.