4 ms·
I don't know anything about HeH, but molecular hydrogen is actually quite hard to form. It's easily dissociated by UV radiation so can't form until a protostar
by lutorm 8y ago
I don't know anything about HeH, but molecular hydrogen is actually quite hard to form. It's easily dissociated by UV radiation so can't form until a protostar has become concentrated enough so as to be self-shielding. A planetary nebula like the one they found the HeH in is not an environment conducive to formation of molecular hydrogen.
- ridgeguy 7y agoYes. H2 is easily dissociated by UV. (Re)combination of 2H0 (two neutral hydrogen atoms) can't happen in the gas phase without a third body to take away the recombination energy. Quantum mechanics again. So there has to be a third thing around (another atom, molecule, or surface) to make H2 out of 2H0.