THE REACTIVE COMPONENTS IN ACTIVE NITROGEN AND THE ROLE OF SPIN CONSERVATION IN ACTIVE NITROGEN REACTIONS

Abstract

Critical examination of the available experimental information provides rather convincing evidence that atomic nitrogen is the main reactive species in active nitrogen. It appears quite unlikely that a significant contribution to the activity is made by electronically excited molecules, metastable atoms, ions, or triatomic radicals. Evidence exists, however, for the presence of more than one active species, and a plausible suggestion would seem to be that the second species is vibrationally excited molecules. Consideration of the role of spin conservation in reactions of active nitrogen leads to the conclusion that reactions that conserve spin occur more readily than those in which spin is not conserved.