A curious and unexpected result of the impact of P/Shoemaker Levy
9 with Jupiter was the production of enormous amounts of molecular
sulfur (S-2). Here we show that S-2 is the natural product of disequilibrium
chemistry at low pressures in shocked jovian air, its formation a
byproduct of hydrogen recombination. The species observed by the
HST - S-2, CS2, and H2Simply that the G fragment penetrated the NH4
SH cloud but did not reach the water table. A typical impact within
or below the NH4SH clouds produces about 0.03-0.1 impactor masses
of S-2. Because comets are relatively hydrogen-poor, SO2, not S-2,
is the major product of shocking a water-rich comet, while S-2, CS2,
and OCS are major products of a dessicated comet. In all cases we
find that as the gas cools St converts to the stable low temperature
allotrope S-8, although other chemical fates not modeled here might
intervene first.
%0 Journal Article
%1 ZAHNLE1995
%A ZAHNLE, K.
%A MACLOW, M. M.
%A LODDERS, K.
%A FEGLEY, B.
%D 1995
%J Geophysical Research Letters
%K imported
%N 12
%P 1593--1596
%T SULFUR CHEMISTRY IN THE WAKE OF COMET SHOEMAKER-LEVY-9
%V 22
%X A curious and unexpected result of the impact of P/Shoemaker Levy
9 with Jupiter was the production of enormous amounts of molecular
sulfur (S-2). Here we show that S-2 is the natural product of disequilibrium
chemistry at low pressures in shocked jovian air, its formation a
byproduct of hydrogen recombination. The species observed by the
HST - S-2, CS2, and H2Simply that the G fragment penetrated the NH4
SH cloud but did not reach the water table. A typical impact within
or below the NH4SH clouds produces about 0.03-0.1 impactor masses
of S-2. Because comets are relatively hydrogen-poor, SO2, not S-2,
is the major product of shocking a water-rich comet, while S-2, CS2,
and OCS are major products of a dessicated comet. In all cases we
find that as the gas cools St converts to the stable low temperature
allotrope S-8, although other chemical fates not modeled here might
intervene first.
@article{ZAHNLE1995,
abstract = {A curious and unexpected result of the impact of P/Shoemaker Levy
9 with Jupiter was the production of enormous amounts of molecular
sulfur (S-2). Here we show that S-2 is the natural product of disequilibrium
chemistry at low pressures in shocked jovian air, its formation a
byproduct of hydrogen recombination. The species observed by the
HST - S-2, CS2, and H2Simply that the G fragment penetrated the NH4
SH cloud but did not reach the water table. A typical impact within
or below the NH4SH clouds produces about 0.03-0.1 impactor masses
of S-2. Because comets are relatively hydrogen-poor, SO2, not S-2,
is the major product of shocking a water-rich comet, while S-2, CS2,
and OCS are major products of a dessicated comet. In all cases we
find that as the gas cools St converts to the stable low temperature
allotrope S-8, although other chemical fates not modeled here might
intervene first.},
added-at = {2009-11-03T20:21:25.000+0100},
author = {ZAHNLE, K. and MACLOW, M. M. and LODDERS, K. and FEGLEY, B.},
biburl = {https://www.bibsonomy.org/bibtex/2e50b81ea980ff0ee0f99767a8edb4b18/svance},
interhash = {cca480dedcb19303a443212097144237},
intrahash = {e50b81ea980ff0ee0f99767a8edb4b18},
journal = {Geophysical Research Letters},
keywords = {imported},
number = 12,
owner = {svance},
pages = {1593--1596},
timestamp = {2009-11-03T20:22:21.000+0100},
title = {SULFUR CHEMISTRY IN THE WAKE OF COMET SHOEMAKER-LEVY-9},
volume = 22,
year = 1995
}