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At least 883 records · Page 49

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NASA NTRS1978

Nonequilibrium chemistry in shocked molecular clouds

The gas-phase chemistry is studied behind a 10-km/s shock propagating into a dense molecular cloud. The principal conclusions are that: the concentrations of certain molecules (CO, NH3, HCN, N2) are unperturbed by the shock; other molecules (H2CO, CN, HCO(+)) are greatly decreased in abundance; and substantial amounts of H2O, HCO, and CH4 are produced. Approximately 1 million yr (independent of the density) must elapse after shock passage before chemical equilibrium is attained.

Iglesias, E. R.↗

NASA NTRS1978

Metastable oxygen emission bands

Recombination of ground-state oxygen atoms populates six different bound electronic states of molecular oxygen. Of the six optical transitions expected between the three upper states at 4 to 4.5 electron volts and the two lowest states, five have been observed in the afterglow of a conventional helium-oxygen microwave discharge in both (O-16)2 and (O-18)2, three of them for the first time in gas-phase spectra. Generation of these emissions from oxygen atoms in a system free of molecular oxygen establishes that atom recombination is the production mechanism.

Slanger, T. G.↗

NASA NTRS1978

Convective heat flux in a laser-heated thruster

An analysis is performed to estimate the convective heating to the wall in a laser-heated thruster on the basis of a solution of the laminar boundary-layer equations with variable transport properties. A local similiarity approximation is used, and it is assumed that the gas phase is in equilibrium. For the thruster described by Wu (1976), the temperature and pressure distributions along the nozzle are obtained from the core calculation. The similarity solutions and heat flux are obtained from the freestream conditions of the boundary layer, in order to determine if it is necessary to couple the boundary losses directly to the core calculation. In addition, the effects of mass injection on the convective heat transfer across the boundary layer with large density-viscosity product gradient are examined.

Wu, P. K. S.↗

NASA NTRS1978

Generation of O2/c 1Sigma u -, C 3Delta u, A 3Sigma u +/ from oxygen atom recombination

The spectrum produced in the afterglow of an O2-He discharge was studied for the range 4000-8000 A. Lawrence et al. (1977) established that under the appropriate conditions the O2(c 1Sigma u - to X 3Sigma g -) system could be observed in this region. The present study has duplicated these results and has discovered three O2 band systems not previously seen in gas phase laboratory spectra. These systems are C 3Delta u-a 1Delta g, C 3Delta u-X 3Sigma g -, and c 1Sigma u - to a 1Delta g.

Slanger, T. G.↗

NASA NTRS1979

Ortho and parahydrogen in interstellar material

The ortho/para molecular hydrogen ratio in the interstellar medium is considered. It is shown that the ortho/para ratio will be 3:1 in practically all chemical reactions, even at relatively low temperatures. Two examples of exothermic processes that will result in the formation of a 3:1 ortho:para ratio, corresponding to a high-temperature equilibrium, are examined: H2 formation via three-body or surface recombination and catalytic recombination involving electrons and H(-) ions. Gas-phase scrambling ion reactions are also discussed, and it is suggested that virtually all the H2 equilibrated via scrambling reactions involving H(+) and H3(+) ions should exist as parahydrogen in the J ? 0 quantum state. Arguments are given that deuterium cannot interfere with the long scrambling chain that results in parahydrogen formation.

Reeves, R. R.↗

NASA NTRS1979

Primordial retention of carbon by the terrestrial planets

The thermodynamics of graphite, carbide, and carbonate formation in the presence of a solar-composition gas is examined, including the feasibility of producing solid solutions of carbon and carbides in metallic iron-nickel alloy. Gas-phase composition and graphite activities for a very wide range of nebular pressures and temperatures are calculated by a computer program that considers several hundred compounds, particularly all the important gaseous species containing H, C, O, N, S, Cl, P, and F. The results obtained indicate that CH4 and CO would be the dominant carbon compounds under all likely circumstances of temperature and pressure in the solar nebula, that graphite may have been the most abundant carbon species in certain cases, and that direct precipitation of graphite, carbides, or carbonates would have been impossible in the solar nebula. Carbon retention by the terrestrial planets is also investigated.

Lewis, J. S.↗

NASA NTRS1979

Metastable isomers - A new class of interstellar molecules

The abundances of a variety of metastable isomers of small organic molecules, analogous to HNC/HCN, in dense interstellar clouds are considered. These metastable species, some of which are thought to exist as intermediates in laboratory organic chemical reactions, are of considerable interest to chemists. Current ideas of gas-phase, ion-molecule chemistry are utilized to demonstrate that such metastable species should often be present in dense clouds in sufficient abundance to be observed. Unfortunately, the spectral constants of metastable isomers have rarely been determined in the laboratory, and quantum chemical calculations of a varying degree of accuracy must be utilized; results are included of some new quantum chemical calculations. The interstellar chemistry and expected microwave spectra of a representative sample of possibly important interstellar metastable isomers are discussed.

Green, S.↗

NASA NTRS1979

The stability of water on Io

Various processes have been examined to determine their impact on water loss from Io and the formation of an anhydrous surface. Thermal escape, photolysis, and gas-phase charged particle interactions are shown to be unimportant. Recent laboratory experiments have shown that charged-particle sputtering is likely to be an effective mechanism for the removal of water ice from Io's surface. Vaporization of ice by meteoroid impacts may also be significant. The overall sputtering rate appears to be sufficiently high that the formation of a substantial regolith due to meteoroid bombardment will be prevented. However, meteoroid bombardment is probably capable of maintaining a thin (about 500 microns) overturned surface layer from which all free water has been removed by sputtering. Alternatively, a thick anhydrous surface layer may have formed on Io as the result of primordial heating. The survival of such a layer to the present implies the absence of subsequent water evolution onto the surface of the satellite.

Pilcher, C. B.↗

NASA NTRS1979

Long chain carbon molecules and diffuse interstellar lines

An estimate of the abundances of chain hydrocarbon molecules expected in dense interstellar clouds as a result of gas-phase chemistry alone supports the hypothesis that the long chain molecules are responsible for the diffuse interstellar lines seen in the optical spectra of stars lying behind fairly low-density interstellar clouds. In particular, it is shown that the equilibrium abundances of the long chain carbon molecules may remain quite high even for molecules with as many as 11 carbon atoms.

Mitchell, G. F.↗

NASA NTRS1979

The physical basis for absorption of light

The effects of light absorption on the wave functions of gas-phase molecules and atoms are investigated by high resolution spectral measurements of radiation emerging from a sample. A Stark-modulated sample of methyl fluoride was irradiated at the 102 GHz rotational transition and the emergent radiation was resolved by means of a spectrum analyzer. For signal oscillator frequencies below or above the molecular resonance by one modulation frequency, the amplitudes of the upper and lower modulation sidebands are found to be of nonuniform intensity, which is inconsistent with amplitude modulation. Emission due to polarization is, however, calculated to be consistent with the results observed, indicating that light absorption should be considered as a subtractive stimulated emission.

Pickett, H. M.↗

NASA NTRS1979

Nucleation of electrically charged droplets

The nucleating droplets or clusters in many nucleation environments (various colloidal plasmas in laboratory and technological applications, astrophysical condensation environments, etc.) are likely to be at a finite electric potential. This may be due either to the presence of electrons and ions in the gas phase or to the thermal ionization or photoionization of the droplets. The paper demonstrates that this potential may introduce a nontrivial modification in the conventional nucleation theory. Some results for the typical case of nucleation of water droplets are presented. The general conclusion is that the electric potential makes nucleation harder to achieve, thereby demonstrating the importance of a finite droplet potential in the theory of nucleation.

De, B. R.↗

NASA NTRS1979

Plasma polymerization of ethylene in an atmospheric pressure-pulsed discharge

The polymerization of ethylene in an atmospheric pressure-pulsed discharge has been studied. Partial pressures of ethylene up to 4 kN/sq m were used with helium as a diluent. Deposition rates (on glass slides) were the same throughout the discharge volume over a wide range of operating conditions. These rates were in the 1-2 A/sec range. The films were clear, soft, and showed good adhesion to the glass substrates. Oligomers large enough to visibly scatter 637.8-nm light were observed in the gas phase under all conditions in which film deposition occurred. The experimental results suggest that Brownian diffusion of these oligomers was the rate-limiting step in the film deposition process.

Donohoe, K.↗

NASA NTRS1979

Theory of molecular rate processes in the presence of intense laser radiation

The present paper deals with the influence of intense laser radiation on gas-phase molecular rate processes. Representations of the radiation field, the particle system, and the interaction involving these two entities are discussed from a general rather than abstract point of view. The theoretical methods applied are outlined, and the formalism employed is illustrated by application to a variety of specific processes. Quantum mechanical and semiclassical treatments of representative atom-atom and atom-diatom collision processes in the presence of a field are examined, and examples of bound-continuum processes and heterogeneous catalysis are discussed within the framework of both quantum-mechanical and semiclassical theories.

George, T. F.↗

NASA NTRS1979

The synthesis of complex molecules in interstellar clouds

The abundances of polyatomic molecules that may be formed by CH3(+) radiative association reactions in dense interstellar molecular clouds are reevaluated. The formation of a number of complex interstellar molecules via radiative association reactions involving ionic precursors other than CH3(+) is also investigated; these additional precursors include CH3O(+), CH3CO(+), CH5(+), HCO(+), NO(+), H2CN(+), C2H2(+), and NH3(+). The results indicate that the postulated gas-phase ion-molecule radiative association reactions could potentially explain the synthesis of most of the more complex species observed in dense molecular clouds such as Sgr B2. It is concluded, however, that in order to be conclusive, laboratory data are needed to show whether or not these reactions proceed at the required rates at low temperatures.

Huntress, W. T., Jr.↗

NASA NTRS1979

Potentials of fissioning plasmas

Successful experiments with the nuclear pumping of lasers have demonstrated that in a gaseous medium the kinetic energy of fission fragments can be converted directly into nonequilibrium optical radiation. This confirms the concept that the fissioning medium in a gas-phase nuclear reactor shows an internal structure such as a plasma in near thermal equilibrium varying up to a state of extreme nonequilibrium. During 20 years of research under NASA support major elements of the fissioning plasma reactor were demonstrated in theory and experiment, culminating in a proof-of-principle reactor test conducted at the Los Alamos Scientific Laboratory. It is concluded that the construction of a gaseous fuel reactor power plant is within the reach of present technology.

Thom, K.↗

NASA NTRS1980

Hot corrosion of Co-Cr, Co-Cr-Al, and Ni-Cr alloys in the temperature range of 700-750 deg C

The effect of SO3 pressure in the gas phase on the Na2SO4 induced hot corrosion of Co-Cr, Ni-Cr, and Co-Cr-Al alloys was studied in the temperature range 700 to 750 C. The degradation of the Co-Cr and Ni-Cr alloys was found to be associated with the formation of liquid mixed sulfates (CoSO4-Na2SO4 or NiSO4-Na2SO4) which provided a selective dissolution of the Co or Ni and a subsequent sulfidation oxidation mode of attack which prevented the maintenance of a protective Cr2O3 film. A clear mechanism was not developed for the degradation of Co-Cr-Al alloys. A pitting corrosion morphology was induced by a number of different mechanisms.

Chiang, K. T.↗

NASA NTRS1979

A sensitivity analysis of volcanic aerosol dispersion in the stratosphere

A computer sensitivity analysis was performed to determine the uncertainties involved in the calculation of volcanic aerosol dispersion in the stratosphere using a 2 dimensional model. The Fuego volcanic event of 1974 was used. Aerosol dispersion processes that were included are: transport, sedimentation, gas phase sulfur chemistry, and aerosol growth. Calculated uncertainties are established from variations in the stratospheric aerosol layer decay times at 37 latitude for each dispersion process. Model profiles are also compared with lidar measurements. Results of the computer study are quite sensitive (factor of 2) to the assumed volcanic aerosol source function and the large variations in the parameterized transport between 15 and 20 km at subtropical latitudes. Sedimentation effects are uncertain by up to a factor of 1.5 because of the lack of aerosol size distribution data. The aerosol chemistry and growth, assuming that the stated mechanisms are correct, are essentially complete in several months after the eruption and cannot explain the differences between measured and modeled results.

Butler, C. F.↗

NASA NTRS1979

Interstellar synthesis of the cyanopolyynes and related molecules

The cyanopolyynes HC2CN, HC4CN, HC6CN, and HC8CN, and the molecules CH3CHCN and CH3CH2CN, have recently been detected in the interstellar medium. It is shown that the observed abundances of these molecules can be obtained by gas-phase formation pathways if the reaction of H2CN(+) with C2H2 is rapid at low interstellar temperatures. The molecules CH2CHCN and C3N may be formed also by the reactions of H2CN(+) with C2H2, and CH3CH2CN may be formed by reaction of H2CN(+) with C2H4.

Mitchell, G. F.↗