Kinetics of Atmospheric Nitrous Oxide Reactions

by Olivia Scheuer

Submitted : Fall 2008

The goal of this project is to find the ultimate equilibrium of the NOx mixture, the chemical mixture of NO and NO2, that is emitted from a car, then use this information to find the distance at which it would be considered safe to build houses and commercial buildings from the road. To do this, an array of mathematical applications, ranging from elementary quadratic equations to calculus, to arrive at my conclusions is used. For part A, numbers are able to be plugged into known values into the equilibrium equation to arrive at the quadratic equation, where the equation can be solved for x. By plugging the x value back into the equilibrium equation, the ultimate equilibrium ratio is found to be NO/NO2 to be 7.35 ppb to 13.645ppb. This is about 1/2, which would be safe for humans, causing the gases that are emitted from a car to be non-toxic. In part 2, the use of the equilibrium equation to formulate an integral. This integral is represented by x as a function of t. Using this and a simple algebraic equation time is calculated which is needed for the NOx to react to a safe level. By plugging this time into an equation of distance=rate*time, the distance of 87.972 meters can be found, for the emissions to be considered safe for humans.

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