On the Interpretation of Relaxation Time Measurements in Gas Mixtures

Abstract

Most studies of the excitation of molecular vibrations in gas mixtures have been carried out using very low concentrations of the B type ``impurity'' gas to excite basic gas A. It is pointed out in this paper that such studies very likely fail to detect the possible importance of triple collisions of the AAB type. Indeed, data of Eucken and Aybar on mixtures containing quite high concentrations of B molecules is felt to furnish strong evidence for the triple collision excitation of COS molecules by argon and by nitrogen molecules.