Abstract
A general account is given of modern ideas on the kinetics of hot-atom reactions and the fundamental postulates of the phenomenological theories, namely the Wolfgang-Estrup "kinetic theory" of hot-atom reactions and Porter's theory of the "integral reaction probability" are described. The physicochemical models of elastic and non-elastic collisions used for the solution of the Boltzmann integrodifferential equations and of the stochastic equations in Porter's theory are examined. The fundamental formulae describing the probabilities or yields of chemical reactions initiated by hot atoms in relation to the energy distribution functions of hot species are presented and a brief account is given of the methods and the results of the application of the phenomenological theories in the interpretation of the results of experiments involving hot atoms in nuclear reactions, photochemical studies, etc.
The bibliography includes 96 references.