Q.How do you convert Para hydrogen into Ortho hydrogen ?
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Start your 14-day free trial to unlock the full solution →Heating pure para-hydrogen to a high temperature (around 1000 K) converts a fraction of it into ortho-hydrogen, because the ortho form is entropically favoured at higher temperature; at equilibrium at high T, hydrogen exists as the "normal" roughly 3:1 ortho:para mixture.
Hydrogen exists as two nuclear-spin isomers depending on the relative orientation of the two proton (nuclear) spins in the H2 molecule:
- Para-hydrogen: the two nuclear spins are opposed (antiparallel/paired) -- this is the lower-energy, lower-entropy form.
- Ortho-hydrogen: the two nuclear spins are aligned in the same direction (parallel) -- this is the higher-energy, higher-entropy form (it has 3 possible spin states versus para's 1, giving it greater degeneracy/entropy).
At absolute zero, hydrogen exists as essentially 100% para-hydrogen (the lowest-energy state). As temperature is raised, thermal energy allows population of the higher-energy ortho states, and the equilibrium mixture shifts towards the ortho form. At room temperature and above, the equilibrium ("normal") mixture is about 75% ortho-hydrogen and 25% para-hydrogen (statistical spin-state ratio of 3:1).
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