A Mechanical String Model of Adiabatic Chemical Reactions

This is an exploration of a mechanical string model of adiabatic chemical reactions. Its main focus includes: a comprehensive mathematical description of molecular systems; a new reaction path concept; and an algorithm for following the reaction path. The reaction path's tangent is determined by an excitation vector and the saddle points surrounding a minimizer can be localized without further information. A procedure appropriate for tracing these reaction paths is presented.