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Hot-atom synthesis of organic compounds on JupiterResults of recent laboratory 'simulations' of photochemical processes on Jupiter are combined with available data on mixing rates and exposure times in the Jovian atmosphere to give quantitative predictions of the rate at which hot-atom reactions produce organic molecules. It is shown that abstraction reactions on methane by hot H atoms from solar UV photolysis of H2S will produce no more than 4 times 10 to the -17th power g/sq cm/sec for a steady-state mole fraction of total organics of approximately 10 to the -16th power. This is roughly 10 to the 7th power times less than the limit of detection of the most sensitive gas analysis experiments ever flown on a spacecraft. By far the most common organic molecule produced by this mechanism is CH3SH, methyl mercaptan, which is produced at a rate at least 600 times smaller than the rate of production of ethane by direct photolysis of CH4 at high altitudes.
Document ID
19790066830
Acquisition Source
Legacy CDMS
Document Type
Reprint (Version printed in journal)
External Source(s)
Authors
Lewis, J. S.
(Massachusetts Inst. of Tech. Cambridge, MA, United States)
Fegley, B., Jr.
(MIT Cambridge, Mass., United States)
Date Acquired
August 9, 2013
Publication Date
September 1, 1979
Publication Information
Publication: Astrophysical Journal
Subject Category
Lunar And Planetary Exploration
Accession Number
79A50843
Funding Number(s)
CONTRACT_GRANT: NGL-22-009-521
Distribution Limits
Public
Copyright
Other

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