In this last experiment tetramethyllead is decomposed at elevated temperatures to methyl radicals and elemental lead in a quartz tube.
The gaseous methyl radicals are moved to another part of the chamber in a carrier gas where they react with lead in a mirror film which slowly disappears.
The overall reaction rate can be written as:[4] with a broken-order dependence of 1.5 with respect to the initiating species.
Specific reactions involving free radicals are combustion, pyrolysis and cracking.
[5] Free radical reactions also occur within and outside of cells, are injurious, and have been implicated in a wide range of human diseases (see 13-Hydroxyoctadecadienoic acid, 9-hydroxyoctadecadienoic acid, reactive oxygen species, and Oxidative stress) as well as many of the maladies associated with ageing (see ageing).