|
|
Article: Electric fields orient chilled molecules. (controlling chemical reactions)
- Article from:
- Science News
- Article date:
- October 12, 1991
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 1991 Science Service, Inc. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
|
Just as a bully likes to have his victim pinned down so he can deliver his blows straight-on, chemists want their molecules lined up properly for chemical reactions. Head-on hits, sideswipes and rear-end collisions have different effects on reaction rates, and those differences can make it difficult for researchers to analyze the dynamics involved when two chemicals combine.
Now, two teams report success in controlling simple polar molecules by cooling and then orienting them in an electric field. One group, led by physicist Hansjurgen Loesch at the University of Bielefeld in Germany, went on to study how beams of iodide compounds interact with beams of ...