RUI: The Chemistry of Hydrogen Peroxide in Cloudwater

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For many years, society has treated the atmosphere as an infinite reservoir for diluting emissions from our factories and automobiles. we now know that sulfur and nitrogen oxide emissions have resulted in the phenomenon of acid rain, which is detrimental to plant and animal life as well as some building materials. Atmospheric chemists are engaged in studies of the processes by which these compounds are oxidized to sulfuric and nitric acids. such chemical information is necessary if we are ever to predict, for example, the geographical pattern of acidity reduction which would result from diminished emissions. This project focuses on hydrogen peroxide, which has been identified as a key oxidant for dissolved sulfur dioxide. Atmospheric hydrogen peroxide is believed to originate from hydroperoxyl and superoxide radicals. The production of hydrogen peroxide has been studied in the laboratory by observing the disappearance of the free radicals at relatively high concentration in carefully purified solutions. In this project, cobalt-60 radiation will be used to generate the radicals in cloudwater at levels characteristic of the ambient atmosphere. Samples will then be analyzed for the concentration of hydrogen peroxide and the rate of its formation in the presence and absence of common atmospheric contaminants. The experiments will help establish the appropriate reaction rates to use in models incorporating aqueous atmospheric processes.