CHEMILUMINESCENCE FROM ATMOSPHERIC GAS REACTIONS

Chemical reactions involving active nitrogen and oxides of nitrogen have been studied with the relatively new technique of infrared chemiluminescence. Spectra have been obtained and presented of the N + NO reaction from 1 to 6 microns. First overtone emissions of nitric oxide at 2.7 microns have been obtained from the reaction of N + NO2 and the intensity variations studied as a function of NO2 concentration. Equilibrium between the vibrational and rotational modes has not been achieved. The rotational temperature is only several hundred degrees, whereas the vibrational temperature is several thousand degrees. This reaction shows similarities to the H + C12 reaction studied by Polanyi (Quant. Spect. Rad. Trf. 3:471 (1963) and Proc. Roy. Soc. A258:529 (1960)). In addition to energy transfer information, this reaction shows that infrared chemiluminescence can yield valuable information about the mechanism of complex chemical reactions. See also AD609281.