On the Nature of Active Nitrogen

Since active nitrogen is essentially atomic nitrogen, the following two assumptions (without assuming the existence of the metastable atoms as Cario and Kaplan did) accounts for all the observed results as reasonable consequences of the Franck-Condon principle and the general properties of molecular spectra. The assumptions are: (1) In the vibrational states with $v^{\prime \prime }=\sim 8$ in the metastable $A{}_{}{}^3{}_{}{}^{}\Sigma$ state, and also in those with $v^{\prime }=\sim 6$ in the upper $B{}_{}{}^3{}_{}{}^{}\Pi$ state, the near-nuclear turning points of the vibration have the same or nearly equal nuclear separations as those in the equilibrium position of nuclei in the normal molecular state; (2) With the exception of the neutral unexcited molecules and atoms in active nitrogen, the metastable $A{}_{}{}^3{}_{}{}^{}\Sigma$ molecules in the vibrational state with $v^{\prime \prime }=7\mathrm{} or 8$ are most concentrated.