An important well studied atmospheric reaction, O (1D) + H2

Among the chemical reactions in atmosphere, the reaction of an excited oxygen atom, O (View the MathML source), with ground state molecular hydrogen, H2 (View the MathML source), has been one of the most studied both experimentally and theoretically. To describe this reaction, various potential energy surfaces have been calibrated and their dynamics has been studied using quantum mechanical and quasiclassical trajectory methods. The theoretical results have shown to be in good agreement with experiment. The main uncertainties arise in the low temperature rate constants and in the isotopic branching ratio when reacting with HD