Abstract
WE are unable to accept the conclusions of Rollefson and Lindquist1 that hydrogen and iodine monochloride do not react at ordinary temperatures under the influence of light. These authors maintain that the reaction H2 + Cl = HCl + H does not readily take place because the Cl atoms resulting from the photo-dissociation of IC1 are mostly in the unexcited state. They consider that the accompanying reaction IC1 + Cl = I + Cl2 is more probable. We had already concluded certain experiments with H2 and IC1 before the above paper appeared, and had found, as we now find on repeating the work, that H2 and IC1 reacted rapidly in strong light if the hydrogen pressure were large compared with the pressure of IC1. This must mean that conditions favour the greater probability of the reaction H2 + Cl = HCl + H, and that excited Cl atoms may not be necessary for it to take place. The idea, however, that IC1 dissociates into normal atoms is not accepted now by the original investigators.2
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References
Jour. Amer. Chem. Soc., 52, 2793; 1930.
Gibson, NATURE, 123, 347; 1929. Zeit. für Physik, 50, 692; 1928.
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MELLOR, D., IREDALE, T. The Photo-Reaction of Hydrogen and Iodine Monochloride. Nature 127, 93 (1931). https://doi.org/10.1038/127093a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/127093a0
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