Reactions of metastable nitrogen atoms

Abstract

The line absorption technique was applied to the kinetic study of the two metastable atomic nitrogen states N (22D) and N(22P) in a flowing afterglow system. The optical absorptions of the Ni 1493-Å (2p32D-3s2P) and 1743-Å (2p32P-3s 2P) transitions were used for the quantitative measurement of N(22O) and N(22P) concentrations. Deactivation of N( 2D) and N(2P) by the Pyrex tube wall was found to be very efficient, i.e., occurs at nearly every collision. The second-order rate constants at 300°K for the removal of N(2D) by O2, N2O, CO2, NO, N2, Ar, and He were found to be (6±2) × 10-2, (3.5±1.2) × 10-12, (S±2) X 10-13, (7±2.5)×10, (1.6±0.7) ×10-14, (1±0.6)×10-16, and 1.6×10 cm3 sec-1, respectively. It was established that the process for the first three reactant gases results in chemical reaction rather than nhvsical auenchiner.