Decomposition of HCN during Experimental Impacts in Dry and Wet Planetary Atmospheres

Hydrogen cyanide (HCN), a key molecule of significant importance in contemporary perspectives on prebiotic chemistry, originates in planetary atmospheres from various processes, such as photochemistry, thermochemistry, and impact chemistry, as well as from delivery by impacts. The resilience of HCN during periods of heavy bombardment, a phenomenon caused by an influx of material on unstable trajectories after accretion, remains relatively understudied. This study extensively investigates the stability of HCN under impact conditions simulated using a laboratory Nd:YAG laser in the ELISE experimental setup. High-resolution infrared spectroscopy was employed to monitor the gas phase composition during these simulations. Impact chemistry was simulated in bulk nitrogen atmospheres with varying mixing ratios of HCN and water vapor. The probed range of compositions spans from ∼0 to 1.8% of HCN and 0 to 2.7% of H₂O in a ∼1 bar nitrogen atmosphere. The primary decomposition products of HCN are CO and CO₂ in the presence of water and unidentified solid phase products in dry conditions. Our experiments revealed a range of initial HCN decomposition rates between 2.43 × 10¹⁵ and 5.17 × 10¹⁷ molec J^–1 of input energy depending on the initial composition. Notably, it is shown that the decomposition process induced by the laser spark simulating the impact plasma is nonlinear, with the duration of the irradiation markedly affecting the decomposition rate. These findings underscore the necessity for careful consideration and allowance for margins when applying these rates to chemical models of molecular synthesis and decomposition in planetary atmospheres.