Vibrational energy transfer and relaxation in O2 and H2O.

Near-resonant vibrational energy exchange between oxygen and water molecules is an important process in the Earth's atmosphere, combustion chemistry, and the chemical oxygen iodine laser (COIL). The reactions in question are (1) O2(1) + O2(0) --> O2(0) + O2(0); (2) O2(1) + H2O(000) --> O2(0) + H2O(000); (3) O2(1) + H2O(000) <--> O2(0) + H2O(010); (4) H2O(010) + H2O(000) --> H2O(000) + H2O(000); and (5) H2O(010) + O2(0) --> H2O(000) + O2(0). Reanalysis of the data available in the chemical kinetics literature provides reliable values for rate coefficients for reactions 1 and 4 and strong evidence that reactions 2 and 5 are slow in comparison with reaction 3. Analytical solution of the chemical rate equations shows that previous attempts to measure the rate of reaction 3 are unreliable unless the water mole fraction is higher than 1%. Reanalysis of data from the only experiment satisfying this constraint provides a rate coefficient of (5.5 +/- 0.4) x 10(-13) cm3/s at room temperature, between the values favored by the atmospheric and laser modeling communities.