Recent Advances Concerning the Transport Properties of Dilute Gases
Intermolecular potential energy functions, heat conduction in chemically reacting gases, and heat conductivity of polyatomic gases
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Intermolecular potential energy functions, heat conduction in chemically reacting gases, and heat conductivity of polyatomic gases
Electron affinity differences determined by surface ionization on hot tungsten through use of polyatomic halogen molecular beam
High temperature polyatomic gas and gas mixture transport properties, discussing thermoconductivity, multiple intermolecular potentials and plasmas
Ultrasonic pulse method /1 to 3 MHz/ measures both sound speed and absorption in monatomic and polyatomic gases in a temperature range of 300 to 20000 degrees K at atmospheric pressure. Helium, nitrogen, oxygen, and argon are investigated.
Polyatomic molecules radiationless transition rate statistical analysis, suggesting role of Franck-Condon principle in determination of nonradiative decay rates
Fluidic oscillator molecular weight of flowing mono- and polyatomic gases, discussing frequency dependence on pressure drop and temperature
Interstellar medium polyatomic molecules formation, destruction and excitation processes by astronomical spectroscopy and interferometry
Polyatomic molecule photoelectron spectroscopy, emphasizing spectra interpretation by quantum mechanical procedures
Analyzer identifies and measures particular diatomic or polyatomic gases in complex gas mixtures. Mixing of absorption effects on light energy passing through gases to photodetector produces a signal component that is related to the absorption caused by reference-gas component in unknown gas mixture.
The photochemistry of two diatomic and eight polyatomic molecules is discussed quantitatively. For an interstellar molecule, the lifetime against photodecomposition depends upon the absorption cross section, the quantum yield or probability of dissociation following photon absorption, and the interstellar radiation field. The constant energy density of Habing is used for the unobserved regions of interstellar radiation field, and the field in obscuring clouds is estimated by combining the constant flux with the observed interstellar extinction curve covering the visible and ultraviolet regions. Lifetimes against photodecomposition in the unobscured regions and as a function of increasing optical thickness in obscuring clouds are calculated for the ten species. The results show that, except for CO, all the molecules have comparable lifetimes of less than one hundred years. Thus they can exist only in dense clouds and can never have been exposed to the unobscured radiation. The calculations further show that the lifetimes in clouds of moderate opacity are of the order of one million years.
In this study of molecular dissociation produced by electron impact, diatomic systems and polyatomic molecules are considered, and attention is given to the effects of thermal motion and of momentum transfer in the collision process. A procedure is described which makes it possible to 'construct' both the laboratory angular distribution and velocity distribution of the atomic fragments (or, alternatively, the time-of-flight distribution). The calculation assumes that s-wave electron scattering predominates, i.e., that excitation occurs near threshold. The computational procedure may also be reversed to allow construction of possible molecular models to fit given experimental angular and velocity distribution data.
Recombination coefficients of electrons with HCO(+) ions were determined with a microwave afterglow/mass spectrometer apparatus. Afterglow measurements of electron density decays in neon-hydrogen-carbon monoxide mixtures are correlated with the decay of mass-identified ion currents to the wall of the microwave cavity. At the appropriate partial pressures of hydrogen and carbon monoxide in the mixture, the ion HCO(+) dominates the ion composition and its wall current approximately tracks the electron density decay curve. From recombination controlled electron density decay curves, the values alpha (HCO(+)) = (3.3 + or - 0.5) and (2.0 + or - 0.3) 0.0000001 cu cm/sec are obtained at 205 and 300 K, respectively. The implications of these results for models of polyatomic molecule formation in dense interstellar clouds are briefly discussed.
The vertical temperature contrast for the thermosphere of Titan is estimated considering heating by absorption of solar energy, energy loss through infrared radiation by polyatomic molecules, and energy transfer by thermal conduction between the regions of energy deposition and loss. Current observational data suggest a CH4/H2 mixing ratio of approximately greater than 1, and a vertical temperature contrast smaller than 10 K. However, it is highly probable that H2 and CH4 are not in equilibrium in the thermosphere if there are large H2 escape rates.
The kinetic theory of polyatomic gases is used to test the mutual consistency of the thermal conductivity, viscosity, and specific heat of low-pressure steam from 100 to 700 C. No inconsistency exists within the cited tolerances of the skeleton tables recommended by the Sixth International Conference on the Properties of Steam, but there is some basis for suspecting that the high-temperature thermal conductivity values are slightly low. Methods for tightening the consistency bounds are suggested.
The role of photochemistry in determining the lifetime of interstellar molecules is considered. The probability of photodecomposition depends on three factors, including the absorption cross section, the quantum yield or probability of dissociation following photon absorption, and the interstellar radiation field. A more detailed discussion of the photochemistry of five molecules is presented, giving attention to carbonyl sulfide, methyl acetylene, nitric oxide, acetylene, and benzene. Lifetimes of interstellar molecules in unobscured regions are in the range from 5 to 100 years. It is concluded that polyatomic molecules can exist only in dense clouds which protect them from the full interstellar radiation field.
To determine the compound distribution formed by surface catalysis, mixtures of CO, D2, and ND2 were heated with nickel-iron or montmorillonite clay catalysts for 49-214 hours at 250 to 300 C. Compounds identified include most of the known polyatomic interstellar molecules, as well as homologous series of acetylenes, dienes, alcohols, aldehydes, ketones, ethers, esters, nitriles, amines, etc., and cyclic compounds such as furans and pyrroles. These homologous series are uniquely characteristic of surface catalysis. A search for the heavier members of these series, predicted to occur at 1/10th to 1/1,000th the abundance of the lightest members, thus comprises a crucial test of this mechanism.
Four new interstellar lines have been detected near 87.3 GHz. Based on laboratory ESR data these lines have been positively defined as hyperfine components of the lowest rotational transition of the ethynyl radical C2H. The observations gave precise values for the C2H rotation, spin-doubling, and hyperfine constants. C2H is probably one of the most abundant interstellar polyatomic molecules yet detected.