On the combustion heat originating in spin angular momentum that validates the chemical force theory of bonding
Heat generated in combustion reactions, when converted into a vectored force, provides the dynamics for thermodynamics. By combining enthalpy data measured calorimetrically with atomization enthalpies coming out of molecular spectroscopy, it is shown here that the heat liberated during typical hydrocarbon combustion is but the last 25% of the bond-forming potential energy with which free atoms are endowed. In short-lived free atoms, this potential energy is manifest as spin angular momentum. This study introduces a new per-atom theory of chemical bonding based on the chemical force law. Codified in this law is the fact that the intramolecule attractive force exerted by an atom upon its bonded neighbor is directly proportional to the free atom’s spin angular momentum and inversely proportional to the atom’s bonded radius. In the context of the other four fundamental forces maintaining structural integrity in material systems, the chemical force is a lot stronger than the gravitational force, stronger than the van der Waals force, weaker than the electromagnetic force, and a lot weaker than the nuclear strong force. Spin–orbit coupling in the heaviest transition metal atoms enhances the strength of the chemical force. The chemical force law successfully models per-atom chemical bond strengths throughout the periodic table. It also shows that a horizontal Newtonian force F = m(a) originates in atomic spin angular momentum.