Effect of Oxygen Atoms on the Vibrational Relaxation of Nitrogen

The vibrational relaxation of nitrogen in the presence of oxygen atoms generated by the decomposition of ozone has been studied behind incident shock waves in the temperature range 3000°–4500°K. Relaxation of the nitrogen was followed by measurement of the postshock density gradient using a laser‐beam deflection technique. Analysis of the data to yield ${\mathrm{P\tau }}_{\text{N2–O}}$ , the relaxation time for nitrogen dilute in 1 atm of oxygen atoms, requires consideration of the simultaneous effect of molecular oxygen produced by the ozone decomposition The values obtained for ${\mathrm{P\tau }}_{N_2\mathrm{–O}}$ are subject to some uncertainty, but clearly lie below those for pure nitrogen by nearly two orders of magnitude. The results are interpreted as evidence of a chemical effect.