Studies of Elementary Reactions of Chemical Importance in the Atmospheres of Planets

The methyl self-reaction was studied at T = 298 K and 202 K and at three different pressures, P = 0.5, 1.0, and 2.1 Torr. The experimental measurements were performed in our discharge flow-mass spectrometer (DF-MS) apparatus. The methyl radicals were generated by the reaction of F with methane. Passing a mixture of molecular fluorine, F2, in helium through a microwave cavity generated the atomic fluorine reagent. The atomic F enters the flow tube through a rear port on the flow tube. The methane reagent enters the flow tube through a movable injector located coaxial in the flow tube. The decay of methyl radical signal was monitored at a mass/charge ratio (m/z) of 15 as a function of the injector distance. To minimize secondary chemistry from the reaction CH3 + F to CH2 + HF the initial [CH4](sub 0)/[F](sub 0) was above 37.0 and typically 100. This ensures a 1:1 relationship between initial [F] and [CH3]. A titration of F with excess Cl2 yields the initial [F](sub 0). Our experimental methodology to accurately measure the mass spectrometer scaling factor, i.e., the relationship between initial signal and [CH3](sub 0) has been improved. Now we measure the CH3 signal decay under exponential decay conditions at low initial [F](sub 0), 3x10(exp 11) molecule/cc, in the presence of Cl2. This minimizes the second-order decay contributed by the CH3 self-reaction and a simple extrapolation of the 1n(signal) vs time plot to t = 0 gives the initial signal. This provides the desired relationship between initial signal at 15 amu and [CH3](sub 0). The resulting calibration is then applied to the observed decay of the CH3 signal at high concentrations of CH3 assuming linearity of this scaling factor.