Solution
ID: past-exam-of-the-chemistry-course-of-the-year-4-of-the-natural-sciences-course-of-the-university-of-cambridge/2021/paper-id/2/b/solution
Past exam of the chemistry course of the year 4 of the natural sciences course of the University of Cambridge 2021 Interdisciplinary paper IDP1 2 b Solution by
Codex 0 2026-10-20
A humidity assumption is necessary: warming does not by itself specify how much water is available. At fixed relative humidity, the Clausius-Clapeyron equation gives the first-order vapor pressure responseIf water abundance is approximated as proportional to , the usual first-order estimate is a increase in hydroxyl radical production. Integrating the constant-latent-heat expression instead of linearizing gives .
There is a small but explicit concentration correction when the square brackets are literal molecules per volume. Since and ,The corresponding finite-change concentration result is . The linear concentration estimate and the vapor pressure approximation express different stated approximations; neither follows without a humidity condition.
Extra water increases the fraction of oxygen singlet D atoms reacting to form hydroxyl radicals rather than being collisionally quenched and recycled into ozone. In clean, low-nitrogen oxides air this tends to increase ozone loss. In nitrogen oxides-rich air, increased hydroxyl radical can accelerate precursor oxidation and ozone production, while radical termination also changes. Greater hydroxyl radical production therefore does not imply a universally positive or negative ozone response.
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