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THE FORMATION AND REACTIONS OF METASTABLE OXYGEN ( 1 Σ+ g ) MOLECULES
Author(s) -
Clyne M. A. A.,
Thrush B. A.,
Wane R. P.
Publication year - 1965
Publication title -
photochemistry and photobiology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.818
H-Index - 131
eISSN - 1751-1097
pISSN - 0031-8655
DOI - 10.1111/j.1751-1097.1965.tb09286.x
Subject(s) - afterglow , oxygen , metastability , chemistry , ozone , molecule , analytical chemistry (journal) , oxygen atom , glow discharge , exothermic reaction , photochemistry , plasma , environmental chemistry , organic chemistry , physics , gamma ray burst , quantum mechanics , astronomy
— The intensity of the (0, 0) ( 1 Σ+ g ‐ 3 Σ ‐ g ) emission band of oxygen near 7600Å (which system is observed also in the night air‐glow) has been used to investigate the formation and removal of 0 2 ( 1 Σ+ g ) in the products of an r.f. discharge in dry oxygen at total pressures of 0.8–6 mm Hg and at 300†K. The concentration of O 2 ( 1 Σ+ g ) was found to be about 10 ‐4 mm Hg in a total pressure of 1 mm Hg. No change of concentration of O 2 ( 1 Σ+ g ) withtime, nor with oxygen atom concentration (for the same discharge conditions), could be observed. The results show that considerable amounts of metastable O 2 ( 1 Σ+ g ) molecules are formed within the discharge, and that virtually no formation of this species occurs by recombination of ground state oxygen atoms in the afterglow. 0 2 ( 1 Σ+ g ) may also be formed from other metastable species in the afterglow [such as O 2 ( l Δ g ], if the rates of production and removal of O 2 ( 1 Σ+ g ) are equal. Ozone removed O( 1 Σ+ g ), and simultaneously O( 3 P) atoms were formed, suggesting that the exothermic reaction 0 3 +0 2 ( 1 Σ+ g ) = 0( 3 P)+20 2 ( 3 Σ ‐ g ) is quite rapid.