Atomic oxygen, produced by dissociation of
molecular oxygen in a radio frequency field, will react with amorphous or
graphitic carbon at room temperatures and both carbon monoxide and carbon
dioxide appear in the product gases. Carbon monoxide appears to be the primary
product of oxidation of carbon, the carbon dioxide being produced by direct
combination of carbon monoxide with oxygen which takes place mainly at the
carbon surface. Atomic oxygen will also react with carbon dioxide to produce
carbon monoxide and molecular oxygen but the quantity of carbon monoxide produced
by this reaction is small compared to that produced by direct oxidation of the
carbon.
