Drift velocities and reactions of nitrogen ions have been investigated at 300°K at values of E/N (the ratios of electric field to number density) between 1.5 and 20X10"" 16 V cm 2 , and at pressures between 0.5 and 1 Torr. Ions were produced in a glow discharge and were gated into a drift cell, withdrawn through a slit, and their mass and intensity were determined as a function of the drift time by a mass analyzer. Comparison of experimental results with theoretical calculations allowed the determination of true drift velocities and reaction rates for ions undergoing reaction during the drift time. The ions in nitrogen were found to occur in two groups, N 2 + -N4 + and N + -N3 + , such that interactions within the groups are much faster than any interactions between the groups. Rate constants for the reaction N 2 + +N 2 +N 2 -> N4 + +N 2 were found to vary from 7X10~2 9 to 2X10" 29 cm 6 /sec between E/N of 5X10" 16 and 18X10" 16 V cm 2 , while for the reverse reaction the rates varied from 0.3X10 -13 to 110X10 -13 cm 3 /sec. The pressure dependences of the reaction rates were consistent with a three-body forward reaction and a two-body reverse reaction over our limited pressure range. For the N + -N3 + system, the interaction of N + with the neutral gas to produce N 3 + was observed at E/N =5X10~1 6 V cm 2 with a rate constant of 3X10~2 9 cm 6 /sec. No reactions could be positively identified which produced N + over the range of our experimental parameters.
The development of an ion-drift cell using mass analysis has enabled the measurement of mobility and identification of six ions in argon. Reduced mobilities of 1.40, 1.95, and 2.40 have been obtained for Ar + , Ar 2 + , and Ar + + in the pure gas, allowing positive identification of ions observed in early experiments by Hornbeck, Biondi, and Beaty. Also, mobilities are obtained for H 3 + , ArH + , and Kr + formed in mixtures of argon with hydrogen and krypton. To determine mobilities in argon, three separate experiments using (1) a conventional parallel-plate ion-drift tube, (2) a modified pulsed Townsend discharge with mass analysis, and (3) a gated Tyndall technique with mass analysis were performed to permit comparison with previous experiments.
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