The Energy of Dissociation of Mercury Molecules

Abstract

The absorption spectrum of mercury vapor in the Schumann region showed three apparently continuous bands with maxima at wave-lengths 1849, 1808, and 1692. The 1849 and 1692 bands appeared without the 1808 band in the emission from an electrodeless discharge through mercury vapor. The absorption spectrum in the region 1900-1804 is correlated with a pair of potential energy curves for ${\mathrm{Hg}}_2$. From these curves, the energy of dissociation of ${\mathrm{Hg}}_2$ is 0.15 volts.