Ionization Cross Sections in Flames

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Abstract
A model is described based on the Chew—Low approximation which accounts quantitatively for recent measurements of ionization rates of alkali metals in CO/O2/N2 or H2O2N2 flames. The basic physics of the model is the same as that proposed by Hollander; that is to say the ionization of the alkali metal takes place from a state close to the ionization continuum by collision with an excited gas atom—here taken to be nitrogen. The well‐known divergence of the sum over states of hydrogenlike atoms is avoided by assuming Debye screening and using observational results on the series limit of the Balmer spectrum in the sun's chromosphere.