Measurement of the ionisation coefficients in nitrogen and methane mixtures

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Abstract
The Townsend first ionisation coefficient alpha /p20 and the total secondary coefficient gamma T have been measured for nitrogen and methane mixtures by the steady-state Townsend method for 4020-1 Torr-1 (12120 of the mixtures lies between the alpha /p20 values of the respective pure gases and that the alpha /p20 of the mixture may be represented by a linear function of the fractional methane partial pressure k for E/p20-1 Torr-1, but a linear relationship tends to break down at higher E/p20. The results also show that the gamma T of the 90% nitrogen and 10% methane mixture increases with E/p20 and that the gamma T decreases rapidly with k at a fixed E/p20. A possible explanation of this rapid decrease in terms of quenching of the excited states of the nitrogen molecule by the methane molecule is given.

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