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Symposium on physicochemical diagnostics of plasmas, aiaa and northwestern university at evanston, illinois in august 1963
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Many properties of meteorites suggest that they formed in a cooling solar nebula. Chemical differences among chondrites, encompassing nearly all known elements, can be accounted for by as few as 4 processes: loss of an early condensate (above 1300 K), loss of nickel-iron (1050 to 700 K), partial remelting of the condensate (600 to 450 K), and accretion (500 to 360 K). The same processes seem to have affected the inner planets. Reasonably concordant accretion temperatures are obtained by various cosmothermometers. These accretion temperatures are 3 times higher than present black-body temperatures in the asteroid belt, suggesting that accretion took place only during a high-temperature stage of necessarily short duration.
Polymers were tested and allowed to outgas isothermally at 125 C and .000001 torr or less. The performance was investigated by thermogravimetric analysis from room temperature to 450 C or until the substance decomposed.
Materials intended for use in spacecraft are routinely tested at low pressures, and outgassed substances are condensed on cold surfaces at liquid nitrogen temperature, -196 C. These condensates are then analyzed by infrared spectroscopy, and gas chromotography-mass spectroscopy. The polymers were tested and allowed to outgas isothermally at 125 C and 0.000001 torr or less. Valuable information was obtained by extending the temperature range below and above 125 C. The performance of substances of interest to NASA were investigated by thermogravimetric analysis (TGA) from room temperature to 450 C or until the substance decomposed. Thermogravimetric analysis of a substance is a useful technique for studying its thermal nature in both static and dynamic thermal environments. It gives considerable insight into the stability and characterization of substances and the changes they undergo in varying thermal environments. The system is able to get pressures down to 1 micron or 0.001 torr.
Electrodes and electrolytes of nickel cadmium sealed batteries were analyzed. Different thermal analysis of negative and positive battery electrodes was conducted and the temperature ranges of occurrence of endotherms indicating decomposition of cadmium hydroxide and nickel hydroxide are identified. Atomic absorption spectroscopy was used to analyze electrodes and electrolytes for traces of nickel, cadmium, cobalt, and potassium. Calibration curves and data are given for each sample analyzed. Instrumentation and analytical procedures used for each method are described.
Factors contributing to the final failure of Ni-Cd batteries are listed. A differential thermal analyzer was used to study several positive and negative battery electrodes. The negative plates show a very large peak (endotherm) between 245 C and 250C. The second endotherm occurs at 300C indicating the decomposition of Cd(OH)2. In positive plates, a first weak endotherm occurs at 100C, which indicates loss of H2O from Ni(OH)2(H2O)n molecules. A second large endotherm occurs in the range of 290C to 300C, indicating the decomposition of Ni(OH2) to NiO and H2O. Atomic absorption spectroscopy was used to determine nickel, cobalt, cadmium, and potassium content in battery electrolytes and electrodes. Results are presented in tables.
Three-dimensional flow around blunt bodies for equilibrium physico-chemical reaction
The application of remote sensing to study soil-vegetation systems requires quantification and precise location of ground observation data such that they can be correlated with multispectral aerial acquired data. Griddling and sampling of an area for exact identification in a known address on magnetic tape containing multispectral scanner data produces quantitative physico-chemical parameters and the energy which is radiating from within the soil-vegetation complex of an area. Example classifications and spectral mappings of soils made from multispectral scanner data are included.
The current status of a global pollution model for carbon monoxide, methane, and formaldehyde is described. The physico-chemical action is considered of these three pollutants in the troposphere. This geographic restriction is convenient since the tropopause provides a natural boundary across which little transport occurs. The data on sources and sinks for these pollutants is based on available information and assumptions relative to the major man-made and natural contributions. The distributions and concentrations of methane, formaldehyde, and carbon monoxide in the atmosphere are interrelated by the chemical reactions in which they participate. A chemical kinetic model based on the pseudo-steady state approximation for the intermediate species was developed to account for these reactions. The numerical procedure used to mathematically describe the pollution transport is a mass conservative scheme employing an integral flux approach.
Physico-chemical processes leading to the dynamic formation and physical evolution of comets are reviewed in relationship to the various theories that propose solar origins, protoplanetary origins, planetary origins and interstellar origins. Evidence points to the origins of comets by the growth and agglomeration of small particles from gas and dust at very low temperatures at undetermined regions in space.
The use of closed ecological systems for the regeneration of wastes, air, and water is discussed. It is concluded that such systems, if they are to be used for the support of humans in space, will require extensive mechanical and physico-chemical support. The reason for this is that the buffering capacity available in small systems is inadequate, and that natural biological and physical regulatory mechanisms rapidly become inoperative. It is proposed that mathematical models of the dynamics of a closed ecological system may provide the best means of studying the initial problems of ecosystem closure. A conceptual and mathematical model of a closed ecosystem is described which treats the biological components as a farm, calculates the rates of flow of elements through the system by mass-balance techniques and control theory postulates, and can evaluate the requirements for mechanical buffering activities. It is suggested that study of the closure of ecosystems can significantly aid in the establishment of general principles of ecological systems.
A major difficulty in the analysis of scrubber data is that of separating the physical effects, such as mass transfer, from the physico-chemical effects, such as reaction rates. This is especially true for the absorbtion of nitrogen tetroxide in the various liquids that were tested in the NASA-Kennedy Space Center Hypergolic Toxic Scrubber Program. A fruitful approach to correlating the data for outlet concentrations was to treat the overall absorbtion as a pseudo first-order absorbtion equation. This approach provided a method for normalizing the data to constant inlet concentration, constant sump liquor condition, and constant scrubbing time, and permitted evaluation of the test and fluid parameters that affected both absorbtion rate and scrubbing time. The analysis indicated that scrubber performance may be improved by optimizing liquor concentrations and liquor flowrate distributions.
Active heat exchange concepts for use with thermal energy storage systems in the temperature range of 250 C to 350 C, using the heat of fusion of molten salts for storing thermal energy are described. Salt mixtures that freeze and melt in appropriate ranges are identified and are evaluated for physico-chemical, economic, corrosive and safety characteristics. Eight active heat exchange concepts for heat transfer during solidification are conceived and conceptually designed for use with selected storage media. The concepts are analyzed for their scalability, maintenance, safety, technological development and costs. A model for estimating and scaling storage system costs is developed and is used for economic evaluation of salt mixtures and heat exchange concepts for a large scale application. The importance of comparing salts and heat exchange concepts on a total system cost basis, rather than the component cost basis alone, is pointed out. The heat exchange concepts were sized and compared for 6.5 MPa/281 C steam conditions and a 1000 MW(t) heat rate for six hours. A cost sensitivity analysis for other design conditions is also carried out.
Studies were conducted to scope the principal areas of technology that can contribute to the development of closed-ecology life support systems (CELSS). Such systems may be required for future space activities, such as space stations, manufacturing facilities, or colonies. A major feature of CELSS is the regeneration of food from carbon in waste materials. Several processes, using biological and/or physico-chemical components, have been postulated for closing the recycle loop. At the present time, limits of available technical information preclude the specification of an optimum scheme. Nevertheless, the most significant technical requirements can be determined by way of an iterative procedure of formulating, evaluating and comparing various closed-system scenario. The functions features and applications of this systems engineering procedure are discussed.
Injection of (C-14)-labeled nutrient onto Mars soil produced an evolution of C-14 gas in the Viking Labeled Release (LR) experiment. However, a second injection of nutrient seven days later was followed by an abrupt diminution of the amount of radioactive gas in the test cell. Simulation experiments performed in the LR Test Standards Module (TSM) have yielded a plausible explanation for this diminution. Radioactive carbon gases were injected into the TSM test cell in the presence and absence of two Mars analog soils. After equilibration, water was injected and its effect observed. The results indicate that the flight data following second nutrient injection can be explained on a physico-chemical basis involving a carbon dioxide/water/soil equilibrium in the test cell. The results also suggest that the gaseous end product of the Labeled Release reaction on Mars is more likely carbon dioxide than carbon monoxide.
The present report deals with the effect of turbulence on the propagation of the flame. Being based upon experiments with laminar as well as turbulent Bunsen flames, both the physico-chemical and the hydro-dynamical aspects of the problem are analyzed. A number of new deductions, interesting from the point of view of engine combustion and other very rapidly changing flame reactions, are made.