The Existence of Metastable Molecules in Active Nitrogen

Abstract

It has been shown in the present experiments that active nitrogen contains, among other things, metastable molecules of nitrogen possessing about 8 volts energy. The evidence that is presented to prove this statement is the excitation of the fourth positive group of nitrogen simultanesously with the quenching of the afterglow by a mild electric discharge. The main spectroscopic characteristics of a condensed discharge have been reproduced by simply introducing active nitrogen into a weak discharge. The relation of these phenomena to the structure of the nitrogen molecule is discussed.