title: A direct measurement of the dissociation energy of water.
abstract: We have performed a direct measurement of one of the most fundamental thermochemical values: the O-H bond energy in water. Using a triple-resonance laser excitation scheme, we excite the molecule through a series of vibrational overtone transitions to access directly the onset of the dissociative continuum. The dissociation energy obtained from our experiments, 41145.94+/-0.15 cm(-1), is approximately 30 times more accurate than the currently accepted value and has important implications for other thermochemical quantities linked to the bond energy of water.
authors.affiliation: Laboratoire de Chimie Physique Moléculaire, Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne, CH-1015 Lausanne, Switzerland.
authors.forename: Pavlo
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Maksyutenko
authors.forename: Thomas R
authors.initials: TR
authors.lastname: Rizzo
authors.forename: Oleg V
authors.initials: OV
authors.lastname: Boyarkin
mesh_terms: D006859:Hydrogen / Q000737:chemistry*; D010100:Oxygen / Q000737:chemistry*; D013816:Thermodynamics; D014867:Water / Q000737:chemistry*
chemical_list: D014867:Water; D006859:Hydrogen; D010100:Oxygen