PREDISSOCIATION IN THE HNO MOLECULE

Abstract

Twelve bands of HNO and 18 bands of DNO in the region 6,000 to 10,000 Å have been photographed in emission during the reactions of hydrogen and deuterium atoms with nitric oxide. Two of the HNO bands and 3 of the DNO bands show a sharp breaking-off in the K-rotational structure, due to predissociation of the molecule in the excited state. Upper limits for the dissociation energies of HNO and DNO are 48.6 kcal/mole and 49.1 kcal/mole respectively.