Abstract
Discharge products were studied with the use of an infrared spectrometer in a cylindrical discharge tube. The results obtained are as follows.
The main constituents of the gases produced by a discharge in air are N2O, NO2, HNO3, and O3. Among them, N2O is stable and its concentration does not decrease for a long period of time after the discharge. On the other hand, HNO3 and NO2 are unstable and decompose immediately after the discharge. Both HNO3 and NO2 are produced periodically at a humidity higher than 3×1016/cm3 in air. In particular, the concentration of NO2 increases suddenly when HNO3 decomposes. At low pressures, a small amount of O3 is generated, whose concentration increases with increasing pressure. On the contrary, HNO3 does not exhibit a periodic generation and its concentration is low at high pressures.
