Search NASA⌕ Search

SEARCH · Search NASA

Results for “Molecular hydrogen”

Search indexed NASA NTRS and DOE OSTI research on propulsion, heat transfer, battery materials and energy systems. Follow report and document links to the original sources.

Quote a phrase for an exact phrase match. Source license links do not imply unrestricted reuse.

At least 73 records · Page 4
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
NASA NTRS1989

High-excitation lines of molecular hydrogen: A discriminant between shock models

The results of column densities of molecular hydrogen, calculated from nineteen infrared line intensities, are discussed. They were measured at peak 1 of the outflow of the Orion molecular cloud OMC-1. The 1-0 O(7) and 0-0 S(13) lines of H2, at 3.8 microns, are mapped over the source. Their intensity ratio is found to be independent of position in the outflow. These observations are well fitted by a simple cooling-flow model of the line emitting region, but seem to be at variance with predictions of C-shocks current in the literature.

Burton, M.↗
NASA NTRS1983

Atomic and molecular hydrogen in the circumstellar envelopes of late-type stars

The distribution of atomic and molecular hydrogen in the expanding circumstellar envelopes of cool evolved stars is discussed. The main concern is to evaluate the effects of photodestruction of H2 by galactic UV radiation, including shielding of the radiation by H2 itself and by dust in the envelope. One of the most important parameters is the H/H2 ratio which is frozen out in the upper atmosphere of the star. For stars with photospheric temperatures greater than about 2500 K, atmospheric models suggest that the outflowing hydrogen is mainly atomic, whereas cooler stars should be substantially molecular. In the latter case, photodissociation of H2 and heavy molecules contribute to the atomic hydrogen content of the outer envelope. The presented estimates indicate that atomic hydrogen is almost at the limit of detection in the C-rich star IRC + 10216, and may be detectable in warmer stars. Failure to detect it would have important implications for the general understanding of circumstellar envelopes.

Glassgold, A. E.↗
NASA NTRS1977

Interstellar clouds and molecular hydrogen

Data obtained from the Copernicus Orbiting Astronomical Observatory, launched in 1972 and still obtaining information, are used in a discussion of the interstellar medium. The Copernicus instruments have facilitated direct estimates for the density and temperature of individual interstellar clouds, and improved the ability to determine where along the line of sight a cloud lies with respect to background stars. The physical characteristics of hydrogen molecules are considered, with attention to the formation and destruction of interstellar hydrogen. The differences between 'thin' clouds, in which molecular hydrogen is optically thin, and 'thick' clouds are examined. Several features of the interstellar medium are described.

Jura, M.↗
NASA NTRS1988

Ratios of molecular hydrogen line intensities in shocked gas - Evidence for cooling zones

Column densities of molecular hydrogen have been calculated from 19 infrared vibration-rotation and pure rotational line intensities measured at peak 1 of the Orion molecular outflow. The run of column density with energy level is similar to a simple coolng zone model of the line-emitting region, but is not well fitted by predictions of C-shock models current in the literature.

Brand, P. W. J. L.↗
NASA NTRS1976

Thermodynamics of a solar mixture of molecular hydrogen and helium at high pressure

The thermodynamic properties of a model molecular hydrogen and helium mixture are calculated in the strongly interacting region of 0.005 to 0.3 per cu cm for a range of temperatures that are of interest for the envelopes of the Jovian planets. Computed adiabats fit the gravity data and boundary conditions from model atmospheres of Jupiter.

Slattery, W. L.↗
NASA NTRS1994

Molecular hydrogen and excitation in the HH 1-2 system

We present a series of molecular hydrogen images of the Herbig-Haro 1-2 system in the 1-0 S(1) transition at 2.121 microns, with a spatial resolution of approximately 2 sec. The distribution of H2 is then compared with that of the excitation, given by the (S II) 6717+6731 to H-alpha line ratio. We find that most optical condensations in the HH 1-2 system, including the VLA 1 jet, have H2 counterparts. H2 emission is detected in most low excitation knots, as expected for low velocity shocks (50 km/s less than), but also in high excitation regions, like in HH 1F and HH 2A min. For these latter objects, the H2 emission could be due to the interaction of the preionizing flux, produced by 150-200 km/s shocks, with the surrounding interstellar matter, i.e., fluorescence. The lack fluorescent lines in the ultraviolet (UV), however, suggest a different mechanism. H2 is detected at the tip of the VLA 1 jet, where the knot morphology suggests the presence of a second bow shock. H2 is detected also SE of HH 2E and SW of HH 1F, in regions with known NH3 emission.

Noriega-Crespo, A.↗
NASA NTRS2001

Substantial reservoirs of molecular hydrogen in the debris disks around young stars

Circumstellar accretion disks transfer matter from molecular clouds to young stars and to the sites of planet formation. The disks observed around pre-main-sequence stars have properties consistent with those expected for the pre-solar nebula from which our own Solar System formed 4.5 Gyr ago. But the 'debris' disks that encircle more than 15% of nearby main-sequence stars appear to have very small amounts of gas, based on observations of the tracer molecule carbon monoxide: these observations have yielded gas/dust ratios much less than 0.1, whereas the interstellar value is about 100 (ref. 9). Here we report observations of the lowest rotational transitions of molecular hydrogen (H2) that reveal large quantities of gas in the debris disks around the stars beta Pictoris, 49 Ceti and HD135344. The gas masses calculated from the data are several hundreds to a thousand times greater than those estimated from the CO observations, and yield gas/dust ratios of the same order as the interstellar value.

unmanned↗
NASA NTRS1986

Vertical distributions of molecular hydrogen off the eastern and Gulf coasts of the United States

The vertical distributions of molecular hydrogen (H2) and carbon monoxide (CO) were determined during spiraling maneuvers from aircraft off the eastern coast of the United States and over the Gulf of Mexico. H2 was always at its lowest levels in the boundary layer, averaging about 500 parts per billion by volume (ppbv). H2 mixing ratios determined in the free troposphere were typically higher (600-700 ppbv), and often suggested a small progressive increase with altitude. Several large free-tropospheric H2 plumes (mixing ratios as high as 1-2 parts per million by volume) were implied by the data. These H2 plumes were not always accompanied by corresponding increases in CO mixing ratios. This result is most difficult to explain when it is noted that the primary atmospheric sources for molecular H2 are considered to be combustion and photochemistry, both of which should be strong CO sources also.

Cofer, Wesley R., III↗
NASA NTRS1972

Ground state energy of solid molecular hydrogen at high pressure

The present status of the theoretical equation of state of solid molecular hydrogen is reviewed. Different quantum mechanical calculations by several groups lead to results which generally agree with each other but which disagree systematically with the measured pressure-volume curve at pressures larger than about 3000 atm. A new calculation of this curve is presented including the effect of the anisotropic interaction between H2 molecules within a completely quantum-mechanical formalism. The results show that inclusion of this interaction removes the discrepancy between theory and experiment at high pressures and that a quantum-mechanical treatment is necessary to realize its full effect.

Ebner, C.↗
NASA NTRS1981

Vibrational and rotational cooling of electrons by molecular hydrogen

It is noted that the cooling of electrons by vibrational and rotational excitation of molecular hydrogen plays an important role in the thermal balance of electrons in atmospheres containing significant amounts of H2. Calculations are described of vibrational and rotational cooling rates of electrons by H2. Results for a wide range of electron and neutral temperatures are presented, and analytical formulas for some to the cooling rates are given.

Waite, J. H., Jr.↗
NASA NTRS1989

Molecular hydrogen line ratios in four regions of shock-excited gas

Five emission lines of molecular hydrogen, with wavelengths in the ranges of 2.10-2.25 and 3.80-3.85 microns, have been observed in four objects of different type in which the line emission is believed to be excited by shocks. The relative intensities of the lines 1 - 0 S(1):1 - 0 S(O):2 - 1 S(1) are approximately 10.5:2.5:1.0 in all four objects. The 0 - 0 S(13):1 - 0 O(7) line ratio, however, varies from 1.05 in OMC-1 to about 2.3 in the Herbig-Haro object HH 7. The excitation temperature derived from the S(13) and O(7) lines is higher than that derived from the 1 - 0 and 2 - 1 S(1) lines in all four objects, so the shocked gas in these objects cannot be characterized by a single temperature. The constancy of the (1-0)/(2-1) S(1) line ratio between sources suggests that the post-shock gas is 'thermalized' in each source. The S(13)/O(7) ratio is particularly sensitive to the density and temperature conditions in the gas.

Burton, M. G.↗
NASA NTRS2003

Molecular Hydrogen in the Quiescent Disk of SW UMA

The data have been acquired and re-reduced by Alex Lobel. We do not detect the molecular hydrogen transitions expected from models of a molecular disk illuminated by Ly alpha photons. We are currently working on an interpretation of the O VI emission lines to determine whether they arise in the disk or the boundary layer. The upper limit on continuum flux will provide an important constraint on models of white dwarf heating in cataclysmic variables.

Raymond, John C.↗
NASA NTRS1975

The absorption of energetic electrons by molecular hydrogen gas

The processes by which energetic electrons lose energy in a weakly ionized gas of molecular hydrogen are analyzed, and calculations are carried out taking into account the discrete nature of the excitation processes. The excitation, ionization, and heating efficiencies are computed for electrons with energies up to 100 eV absorbed in a gas with fractional ionizations up to 0.01, and the mean energy per pair of neutral hydrogen atoms is calculated.

Cravens, T. E.↗
NASA NTRS2000

Dynamics of Molecular Hydrogen in Hypersaline Microbial Mars

Early Earth microbial communities that centered around the anaerobic decomposition of organic molecular hydrogen as a carrier of electrons, regulator of energy metabolism, and facilitator of syntroph'c microbial interactions. The advent of oxygenic photosynthetic organisms added a highly dynamic and potentially dominant term to the hydrogen economy of these communities. We have examined the daily variations of hydrogen concentrations in cyanobacteria-dominated microbial mats from hypersaline ponds in Baja California Sur, Mexico. These mats bring together phototrophic and anaerobic bacteria (along with virtually all other trophic groups) in a spatially ordered and chemically dynamic matrix that provides a good analog for early Earth microbial ecosystems. Hydrogen concentrations in the photic zone of the mat can be three orders of magnitude or more higher than in the photic zone, which are, in turn, an order of magnitude higher than in the unconsolidated sediments underlying the mat community. Within the photic zone, hydrogen concentrations can fluctuate dramatically during the diel (24 hour day-night) cycle, ranging from less than 0.001% during the day to nearly 10% at night. The resultant nighttime flux of hydrogen from the mat to the environment was up to 17% of the daytime oxygen flux. The daily pattern observed is highly dependent on cyanobacterial species composition within the mat, with Lyngbya-dominated systems having a much greater dynamic range than those dominated by Microcoleus; this may relate largely to differing degrees of nitrogen-fixing and fermentative activity in the two mats. The greatest H2 concentrations and fluxes were observed in the absence of oxygen, suggesting an important potential feedback control in the context of the evolution of atmospheric composition. The impact of adding this highly dynamic photosynthetic term to the hydrogen economy of early microbial ecosystems must have been substantial. From an evolutionary standpoint, the H2 generated in mats could have represented a very important new source of electrons and energy - but one that could not be harnessed without substantial adaptation to the highly variable chemistry of the mat surface. In addition, the emergent chemistry of anaerobic communities is often highly dependent on ambient hydrogen concentrations, so that incorporation of these communities into photosynthetic mats could have significantly affected the composition and flux of reduced "biosignature' gases to the environment.

Hoehler, Tori M.↗
NASA NTRS1995

Shocked Molecular Hydrogen in Herbig-Haro Objects and Jets

We present near-IR array images of the shocked molecular hydrogen in Herbig-Haro objects and jets from YSOs. These observations, in combination with optical and EEL observations of atomic emission, serve as probes of the shock conditions within the objects.

Schultz, A.S.B.↗