REACTION DYNAMICS, OH ENERGY PARTITIONING, AND OH PRODUCT ANGULAR-MOMENTUM ALIGNMENT STUDIES H+H2O -] OH+H-2 VERSUS H+CO2 -] OH+CO

Using translationally excited H atoms generated by laser photolysis of H2S at 193 nm, the reaction dynamics of H + H2O -> OH + H-2 and H + CO2 -> OH + CO was investigated at collision energies of 2.2 and 2.3 eV, respectively. Nascent OH rotational and vibrational quantum-state distributions and OH product translational energies were measured by means of the laser photolysis/laser-induced fluorescence pump-probe technique. A markedly non-statistical distribution of the available energy was found: H + H2O -> OH + H-2: f(rot) = 0.04 +/- 0.01, f(vib) < 4 X 10(-3), f(trans) = 0.65 +/- 0.26; H + CO2 -> OH + CO: f(rot) = 0.14 +/- 0.02, f(vib) = 0.11 +/- 0.04, f(trans) = 0.59 +/- 0.16. In addition, velocity-aligned H atoms generated via polarized H2S photodissociation were used to investigate vector correlations for both reactions.