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Reaction broadening of the line profiles of atomic sodium in the night airglow
Author(s) -
Hernandez G.
Publication year - 1975
Publication title -
geophysical research letters
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.007
H-Index - 273
eISSN - 1944-8007
pISSN - 0094-8276
DOI - 10.1029/gl002i003p00103
Subject(s) - airglow , sodium , excited state , dissociation (chemistry) , atomic physics , oxygen , atmosphere (unit) , atomic oxygen , line (geometry) , carbon monoxide , thermosphere , chemistry , physics , atmospheric sciences , meteorology , catalysis , ionosphere , geophysics , biochemistry , geometry , mathematics , organic chemistry
The line profiles of the sodium D‐lines in the night airglow show considerable broadening which can not be ascribed to temperature alone. Based on this broadening, the known chemistry, and physics of sodium atom production in the upper atmosphere at night, we deduce that excited sodium atoms are most likely produced from the reaction of sodium monoxide and atomic oxygen, and thus find an upper limit for the dissociation energy of sodium monoxide equal to 2.89 eV (determined to a precision of 0.02 eV).