The dissociative chemisorption of molecular hydrogen on the gold surface, m
odeled by a seven atom cluster, has been studied using explicitly correlate
d wave functions. The spin-orbit effect on the barrier was calculated using
the microscopic spin-orbit Hamiltonian. The reaction is found to be endoth
ermic by about 33 kcal/mol with a barrier to dissociative chemisorption of
about 45 kcal/mol. The barrier to associative desorption is estimated to be
of the order of 12 kcal/mol. The spin-orbit effect on the barrier was 1.2
kcal/mol and estimated to be insignificant for the infinite surface: (C) 20
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