Further Laboratory Studies of the Perturbed Upper Atmosphere
Abstract
Laboratory studies have been made of the positive and negative ions resulting from the irradiation of airlike N2:O2 mixtures at total pressures between 1 and 8 Torr by megavolt electrons. For gas mixtures containing less than 1 ppm H2O, only O2(+), and O2(-) are observed at the onset of irradiation; as the electron bombardment continues, these ions interact with beam-generated minority species to produce an ion spectrum eventually dominated by NO(+), NO2(- ), and NO3(-). Quantitative studies of the removal of O2(+) by charge-exchange with beam-generated NO yield for the dominant NO-producing mechanism the reaction O2(+) + N2 yields NO(+) + NO. If H2O concentrations between 5 and 20 ppm are added to the gas, the positive ion spectrum observed after long irradiation is dominated by complex ions of the form H3O(+).n H2O(N = 0, 1, 2, . ..), in agreement with in situ observations in the D region. (Author)
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Jul 15, 1970
- Accession Number
- AD0876697
Entities
People
- Merle N. Hirsh
- Philip N. Eisner