Date of Thesis

Spring 2024

Description

Precise rate coefficients for the vibrational relaxation pathways of CO(v)-CO in the presence of Ar and Kr have been determined through the work of this thesis. This work was motivated by the need to find a more cost-effective alternative to using xenon as a bath gas, which has increased significantly in price in the past few years. Similar experiments within this lab at Bucknell have been conducted in the past using argon, which can be used in the same manner as xenon but comes at a much lower price, but the experiments yielded inferior results compared to those using xenon. This experiment also addresses the need to increase the precision in rate coefficients measured for the energy transfer reaction between carbon monoxide in the excited (v=1) state and CO in the ground state. This experiment includes exciting CO with a temperature-jump created by a pulsed UV laser, absorption by ozone, and analyzing the CO population shift using transient diode laser spectroscopy. The primary focus of this project was to measure the apparent rate coefficient (k) for the self-quenching rate of CO in the presence of krypton and compare the results with the self-quenching rate of CO in the presence of argon. By creating a more cost-efficient energy transfer experiment, a more thorough understanding of non-LTE models like CO in Titan’s upper atmosphere can be created. The measured values for the apparent rate coefficients of the CO self-quenching processes in the presence of krypton and argon were determined to be k(Kr) = (5.7 ± 0.19) x10-13 cm3 molecule-1 s-1 and k(Ar) = (9.7 ± 0.2) x10-13 cm3 molecule-1 s-1.

Keywords

Titan, Carbon monoxide, Vibrational Relaxation, Perturbation-Relaxation, Energy Transfer

Access Type

Honors Thesis

Degree Type

Bachelor of Science

Major

Chemistry

Minor, Emphasis, or Concentration

Education - College Student Personnel

First Advisor

Karen Castle

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