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Chemistry · Glossary

What is Chain branching, explosion limits?

Also known as: chain branching · explosion limits

Definition 13.4 University Chemistry — Year 3 · Chapter 13 — Complex Kinetics: Chains, Enzymes and Oscillations

Chain branching is a propagation step that produces more chain carriers than it consumes, such as H+OX2→OH+O\ce{H + O2 -> OH + O}, which turns one carrier into two. The explosion limits of a mixture are the pressures, at a given temperature, at which its slow reaction turns into an explosion.

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