Calculation of the average energy of recoil hot reactions. Hot hydrogen replacement reactions in alkane systems moderated with noble gases

Abstract

The average energy of reaction for recoil hot species in a well scavenged system is defined explicitly and calculated for recoil tritium for hydrogen replacement reactions with cyclohexane and n-butane as a function of noble gas moderation. In general this average reaction energy is relatively independent of the composition of the system. However, in cases of high reactivity or low threshold energies for hot reaction where the primary reactive process competes significantly with thermal scavenging, more significant composition dependencies may be manifest. The generality of the method outlined is specifically dependent on the availability of information on the energy dependence of the cross sections for the reactions of interest.