Talk:MRD:ll4915
Great work! Here is some advice to help you improve even further:
- TS classification: You are working with a 2D problem here, so there are two gradients and three curvatures. The key phrase is "maximum on the minimum energy path". You described how to identify a maximum, but not how you would find a maximum on the minimum path. This requires the use of 2D calculus.
- TS theory critique: Your answer is correct and I like that you use your own work as a base of your critique rather than stating facts from a text book! Would an experimental reaction rate by higher or lower than the one predicted with TS theory?
- Activation energies: It is good practice to show all your experimental data and methods, well done!
- Experimental verification of vibrational energy release: Which transition in IR would allow you to observe vibrational energy release? Which approximations do you have to invoke and which ones do not work? How would NMR be useful to understand vibrational modes?
- Polanyi's rules: Your reasoning is correct, however I would have liked more references to the trajectories you just calculated. Since there's only one successful reaction, can you come up with more successful reaction conditions based on your knowledge of Polanyi's rules?