[EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote:
Can somebody offer a reasonable explanation as to why atomic hydrogen when it
recombines doesn't blow itself apart in the act?
Since the molecule ends up in a lower energy state than the two separate
atoms were in, taken together, and since the whole package can't just
take off at higher velocity due to conservation of momentum, I just
assumed it did the same thing a single atom does when it drops to a
lower energy state: It radiates it away.
You can view it as a three-body interaction, I think: Two H atoms, and
a photon which carries away the energy.
This is presumably related to the fact that the flame of a burning gas
glows with a characteristic set of frequencies which doesn't depend on
anything except the gasses which are combining (color of the flame
doesn't vary depending on ambient temperature).
