State-to-state reaction dynamics
Richard N. Zare, Richard B. Bernstein · Physics Today · 1980
The study of chemical reaction kinetics can be likened to the task of making a motion picture of a reaction. The trouble thus far with achieving this goal seems to be the problem of too many would-be actors who strut upon the stage without proper cue and mumble their lines too rapidly to be understood—for chemical reactions occur with the ease of striking a match and at a speed so fast (on a subpicosecond time scale for the making of new bonds and breaking of old ones) as to be a severe challenge to the moviemaker who would like to record individual frames.