Effect of Hydrogen Atom and Electron Scavengers on the Radiolysis of Ammonia Gas

AMMONIA gas is decomposed by the action of ionizing radiations, hydrogen and nitrogen being the only products formed in significant amounts 1–3 . Although some information about the nature of the primary processes in the radiolysis is available, chiefly as a result of mass-spectrometric studies 4–8 , the relative contributions of the different primary processes to the overall decomposition are not known. We report here an investigation aimed at determining the primary yield of hydrogen atoms in the radiolysis of ammonia and the contribution of ion neutralization to this yield.