Abstract
An investigation has been made of the nitric oxide inhibited thermal decomposition of ethane. Apparent chain lengths of 2.4 to 5 are found at temperatures from 640° to 565 °C. The activation energy of the inhibited reaction is found to be 77.3 Kcal. The results are discussed and it is concluded that the thermal decomposition of ethane proceeds mainly by a rearrangement mechanism and that free-radical chain mechanisms for the ethane decomposition are untenable.

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