The Infrared Spectrum of Active Nitrogen

Abstract

Thirty-one bands, including the (0, 0) band at 10,440A, of the ${\mathrm{N}}_2$ first positive system have been photographed in the Lewis-Rayleigh afterglow of active nitrogen. There is no indication that the $v=0\mathrm{}$ level of the $B{}_{}{}^3{}_{}{}^{}\Pi$ state is preferentially populated as required by the "resonance" theory of atomic re-association using $D\left({\mathrm{N}}_2\right)=7.383\mathrm{}$ volts. The analogy between the Lewis-Rayleigh glow and the spectrum of the airglow is discussed briefly.