Schematic of the unimolecular dissociation of ketene (CH₂CO), in which stepwise increases of the dissociation rate are seen as the total energy increases through transition-state vibrational thresholds (white lines). Highly vibrationally excited ketene moves to the transition state of the reaction by localizing energy in the C-C bond (blue). Once at the transition state at the peak of the potential energy surface (yellow), CH₂ and CO repel each other, converting potential energy into translational and rotational energy of the fragments. See page 1541 and the Perspective on page 1523. [Illustration: Tim Robinson, University of California, Berkeley]

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