Steric Effects in the Chemisorption of Vibrationally Excited Methane on Nickel

Bruce Yoder’s thesis outlines his investigation of the dissociative chemisorption of methane (CH₄) on a nickel single crystal. In this work Bruce uses a molecular beam and infrared laser techniques to prepare methane in excited rovibrational states. The excited methane molecules are aligned relative to the target nickel surface. Bruce describes the discovery and exploration of a previously unknown...