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At least 595 records · Page 33

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NASA NTRS1973

Monitoring systems for evaluation of terrestrial contamination in a lunar sample transfer facility

The lunar sample transfer facility used consists of two tandem glove boxes and an entrance vacuum antechamber. Monitoring systems were used to evaluate the contamination levels of water, permanent gases, and lower volatility organic compounds in the glove box atmosphere. The experimental procedures are considered, taking into account the glove box atmosphere, aspects of volatile gas analysis, and lower volatility organic contaminants. The value of high resolution mass spectrometry in the monitoring scheme is illustrated with the aid of an example.

Wszolek, P. C.↗

NASA NTRS1973

Red clouds in reducing atmospheres

A dark reddish-brown high-molecular weight polymer is produced by long wavelength ultraviolet irradiation of abundant gases in reducing planetary atmospheres. The polymer is examined by paper chromatography, mass spectrometry, and infrared, visible, and ultraviolet spectroscopy. High carbon-number straight-chain alkanes with NH2 and, probably, OH and C = O groups are identified, along with amino acids. There are chemical similarities between this polymer and organic compounds recovered from carbonaceous chondrites and precambrian sediments. The visible and near-ultraviolet transmission spectrum of the polymer shows its absorption optical depth to be redder than lambda(-2) and perhaps similar in coloration to the clouds of Jupiter, Saturn, and Titan. The nitrile content is small, and the polymer should be semitransparent in the 5 micrometer atmospheric window. Such polymers may be a common constituent of clouds in the outer solar system and on the early earth.

Khare, B. N.↗

NASA NTRS1973

Volatile element chemistry of selected lunar, meteoritic, and terrestrial samples

Using vacuum pyrolysis and high resolution mass spectrometry, a study is made of the gas release patterns of representative lunar samples, meteorites, terrestrial samples, and synthetic samples doped with various sources of carbon and nitrogen. The pyrolytic gas evolution patterns were intercorrelated, allowing an assessment of the possible sources of the volatilizable material in the lunar samples to be made. Lightly surface adsorbed species and more strongly chemisorbed species are released from ambient to 300 C and from 300 to 500 C, respectively. The low-temperature volatiles (less than 500 C) derived from various chondrites correlate well with the gas evolution patterns of volatile-rich samples, as for example 74220 and 61221. Solar wind entrapped species and molecules derived from reactions probably in the grain surfaces are evolved from about 500 to 700 C, respectively. Solar wind implanted C, N, and S species are generated from 750 to 1150 C, probably by reaction with the mineral matrix during the annealing process. Possible indigenous and/or refractory carbide, nitride, and sulfide C, N, and S are released in the region from 1200 C to fusion.

Simoneit, B. R.↗

NASA NTRS1975

Sodium sulfate: Vaporization thermodynamics and role in corrosive flames

Gaseous species over liquid Na2SO4 were identified by the technique of molecular beam mass spectrometry. The heat and entropy of vaporization of the Na2SO4 molecule were measured directly. Comparisons of the experimental entropy with values calculated using various molecular parameters were used to estimate the molecular structure and vibrational frequencies. The thermodynamic properties of gaseous and condensed phase Na2SO4, along with additional pertinent species, were used in a computer program to calculate equilibrium flame compositions and temperatures for representative turbine engine and burner rig flames. Compositions were calculated at various fuel-to-oxidant ratios with additions of sulfur to the fuel and the components of sea salt to the intake air. Temperatures for condensation of Na2SO4 were obtained as a function of sulfur and sea salt concentrations.

Kohl, F. J.↗

NASA NTRS1975

Purines and triazines in the Murchison meteorite

Two samples of the Murchinson C2 chondrite were analyzed for organic nitrogen compounds, using mass spectrometry in combination with paper and thin-layer chromatography. Under mild extraction conditions (water or formic acid), only alphatic amines and some alkylpyridines were seen. Drastic extraction conditions (hot 3-6 M HCL) a variety of nitrogen compounds appeared, including adenine (15 ppm), guanine (5ppm), melamine (20 ppm), cyanuric acid (20 to 30 ppm), guanylurea (30 to 45 ppm), and urea (25 ppm). It appears that these compounds are present mainly in macromolecular material. Failure of other investigators to identify these compounds in carboneceous chondrites is attributed to inadequate extraction conditions (water and formic acid rather than HCl).

Hayatsu, R.↗

NASA NTRS1975

Production of N2O/+/ by reaction of metastable O2/+/ ions with N2

Photoionization mass spectrometry examination of the production of N2O(+) was undertaken to determine whether N2(+) or O2(+) ions are responsible for onset of N2O(+). It appears that the N2(+) ion does not contribute significantly to the production of N2O(+) in this experiment. Therefore, it is clear that excited O2(+) is responsible for the formation of N2O(+) near the appearance potential of these ions.

Ajello, J. M.↗

NASA NTRS1975

Alkyl substituted cyclic ethers in 2,300 M yr old Transvaal algal stromatolite

Two cyclic ethers have been identified for the first time from insoluble polymer-like kerogen in a Precambrian rock by ozonolysis, gas chromatography, and mass spectrometry. The ethers are 2-n-propyl-3-methyltetrahydrofuran and 2-n-propyltetrahydropyran. These compounds could prove to be the oldest indigenous biochemical fossils. The sample was obtained 750 m stratigraphically above the base of the Transvaal Sequence from an outcrop approximately 315 km north-east of Johannesburg, South Africa.

Zumberge, J. E.↗

NASA NTRS1975

Volatile organic components in the Skylab 4 spacecraft atmosphere

The volatile organic components in the spacecraft cabin atmosphere of Skylab 4 were trapped on a solid adsorbent at various times during the mission. In post-flight analyses, more than 300 compounds in concentrations from less than 1 ppb up to 8000 ppb could be detected by high-resolution gas chromatography. In the samples of the 11th, 47th, and 77th day of the mission, approximately 100 components in the molecular weight range from 58 to 592 were identified by mass spectrometry. Besides components known from other environments, such as alkanes, alkenes, and alkylated aromatic hydrocarbons, components typical of the human metabolism, such as ketones and alcohols, were found. Other typical components in the spacecraft atmosphere included fluorocarbons and various silicone compounds, mostly normal and cyclic methylsiloxanes.

Liebich, H. M.↗

NASA NTRS1975

Metabolic studies of transient tyrosinemia in premature infants

The recently developed technique of gas chromatography-mass spectrometry supported by computer has considerably improved the analysis of physiologic fluids. This study attempted to demonstrate the value of this system in the investigation of metabolite patterns in urine in two metabolic problems of prematurity, transient tyrosinemia and late metabolic acidosis. Serial 24-hr urine specimens were analyzed in 9 infants. Transient tyrosinemia, characterized by 5- 10-fold increases over basal excretion of tyrosine, p-hydroxyphenyllactate, and p-hydroxyphenylpyruvate in urine, was noted in five of the infants. Late metabolic acidosis was seen in four infants, but bore no relation to transient tyrosinemia.

Fernbach, S. A.↗

NASA NTRS1974

Distribution of sterols in the fungi. I - Fungal spores

Mass spectrometry was used to examine freely extractable sterols from spores of several species of fungi. Ergosterol was the most common sterol produced by any individual species, but it was completely absent from two species belonging to apparently distantly related groups of fungi: the aquatic Phycomycetes and the rust fungi. This fact could have taxonomic or phylogenetic implications. The use of glass capillary columns in the resolution of the sterols is shown to eliminate some of the difficulty inherent in this process.

Weete, J. D.↗

NASA NTRS1976

Borosilicate glass-to-Kovar tube bonding

Two-micron-diameter inlet leak, useful in mass spectrometry applications, minimizes gas sample distortion that occurs between sample and leak, is easily joined to spectrometer inlet system, and withstands unusual gas pressures and temperatures.

Harris, R. F.↗

NASA NTRS1975

Application of cabin atmosphere monitors to rapid screening of breath samples for the early detection of disease states

Analysis of human breath is a nonintrusive method to monitor both endogenous and exogenous chemicals found in the body. Several technologies were investigated and developed which are applicable to monitoring some organic molecules important in both physiological and pathological states. Two methods were developed for enriching the organic molecules exhaled in the breath of humans. One device is based on a respiratory face mask fitted with a polyethylene foam wafer; while the other device is a cryogenic trap utilizing an organic solvent. Using laboratory workers as controls, two organic molecules which occurred in the enriched breath of all subjects were tentatively identified as lactic acid and contisol. Both of these substances occurred in breath in sufficient amounts that the conventional method of gas-liquid chromatography was adequate for detection and quantification. To detect and quantitate trace amounts of chemicals in breath, another type of technology was developed in which analysis was conducted using high pressure liquid chromatography and mass spectrometry.

Valentine, J. L.↗

NASA NTRS1976

Moving particle composition analyzer

A mass spectrometry apparatus for analyzing the composition of moving microscopic particles is introduced. The apparatus includes a capacitor with a front electrode upon which the particles impinge, a back electrode, and a solid dielectric sandwiched between the front and back electrodes. In one embodiment, the electrodes and dielectric are arcuately shaped as concentric peripheral segments of different spheres having a common center and different radii. The front electrode and dielectric together have a thickness such that an impinging particle can penetrate them. In a second embodiment, the capacitor has planar, parallel electrodes, in which case the ejected positive ions are deflected downstream of a planar grid by a pair of spaced, arcuate capacitor plates having a region between them through which the ejected ions travel.

Auer, S. O.↗

NASA NTRS1975

Chemistry of vaporization of refractory materials

A discussion is given of the principles of physical chemistry important in vaporization studies, notably the concepts of equilibrium, phase behavior, thermodynamics, solid solution, and kinetics. The important factors influencing equilibrium vaporization phenomena are discussed and illustrated. A proper course of a vaporization study consisting of 9 stages is proposed. The important experimental techniques of Knudsen effusion, Langmuir vaporization and mass spectrometry are discussed. The principles, the factors, the course of a study and the experimental techniques and procedures are illustrated by recent work on the Ti-O system.

Gilles, P. W.↗

NASA NTRS1975

Photosynthesis of organic compounds in the atmosphere of Jupiter

An efficient conversion of CH4 to hydrocarbons and HCN takes place when NH3 is photolysed in the presence of CH4, H2, and He using a 184.9 nm light source. The extent of NH3 decomposition after a 1 hr exposure was determined spectrophotometrically; CH4, N2, and C2 and C3 hydrocarbons were detected and analyzed by mass spectrometry. Photolysis of one molar equivalent of NH3 results in the loss of 0.84 molar equivalent of CH4, which apparently reacts with hot hydrogen atoms produced by photolysis. The 8% of the NH3 which is not converted to N2 probably is converted to organic amines and nitrile derivatives. The results indicate that NH3 photolysis is a highly probable mechanism for the conversion of methane to more complex hydrocarbons in the upper atmosphere of Jupiter, and predict the occurrence of HCN, NH2NH2, and higher hydrocarbons in the Jovian atmosphere above the NH3 clouds.

Ferris, J. P.↗

NASA NTRS1976

The polymer-like organic material in the Orgueil meteorite

Results are reported for analysis of polymeric organic material contained in powder from the Orgueil chondrite, using a stepwise high-vacuum pyrolysis-gas chromatography-mass spectrometry technique. Pyrolysis products obtained include a series of alkanes and alkenes to C8, an extensive series of alkylbenzene isomers, thiophene, alkylthiophenes, benzothiophene, acetonitrile, acrylonitrile, benzonitrile, acetone, and phenol. Most of these products are shown to be similar both qualitatively and quantitatively to those previously obtained from solvent-extracted Allende powder, indicating a basically aromatic and heteroaromatic polymer matrix with short aliphatic bridges or side chains. The production of acrylonitrile, acetonitrile, and benzonitrile (common breakdown products of amino acids) from the insoluble organic material is taken to suggest that amino acids exist in an insoluble form, perhaps as peptides, in the meteorite's polymeric component. Similarities between the structure of the Orgueil polymeric material and terrestrial kerogen are discussed which raise the possibility that both might have been produced in part by similar reactions.

Bandurski, E. L.↗

NASA NTRS1976

Toward more environmentally resistant gas turbines: Progress in NASA-Lewis programs

A wide range of programs are being conducted for improving the environmental resistance to oxidation and hot corrosion of gas turbine and power system materials. They range from fundamental efforts to delineate attack mechanisms, allow attack modeling and permit life prediction, to more applied efforts to develop potentially more resistant alloys and coatings. Oxidation life prediction efforts have resulted in a computer program which provides an initial method for predicting long time metal loss using short time oxidation data by means of a paralinear attack model. Efforts in alloy development have centered on oxide-dispersion strengthened alloys based on the Ni-Cr-Al system. Compositions have been identified which are compromises between oxidation and thermal fatigue resistance. Fundamental studies of hot corrosion mechanisms include thermodynamic studies of sodium sulfate formation during turbine combustion. Information concerning species formed during the vaporization of Na2SO4 has been developed using high temperature mass spectrometry.

Lowell, C. E.↗

NASA NTRS1977

Novel duplex vapor-electrochemical method for silicon solar cells

Silicon was produced by alternate pulse feeding of the reactants SiF4 gas and liquid sodium. The average temperature in the reactor could be controlled, by regulating the amount of reactant in each pulse. Silicon tetrafluoride gas was analyzed by mass spectrometry to determine the nature and amount of contained volatile impurities which included silicon oxyfluorides, sulfur oxyfluorides, and sulfur dioxide. Sodium metal was analyzed by emission spectrography, and it was found to contain only calcium and copper as impurities.

Kapur, V. K.↗