He following three-step mechanism has been proposed for the decomposition reaction, 2NO2Cl(g)→2NO2(g)+Cl2(g)

:

Step 1 2NO2Cl(g)⇌ClO2(g)+N2O(g)+ClO(g)
Step 2 N2O(g)+ClO2(g)⇌NO2(g)+NOCl(g)
Step 3 NOCl(g)+ClO(g)→NO2(g)+Cl2(g)

because natural gas is colorless, odorless, and tasteless, distributors add mercaptan (a chemical that smells like sulfur) to give natural gas a distinct unpleasant odor (it smells like rotten eggs). they locate the types of rock that are likely to contain natural gas deposits.