The Non-Appearance of the Recombination Luminescence in the Reaction between Alkali and Halogen Atoms

Abstract

FROM the possibility of a direct dissociation of salt molecules of NaCl type in the non-charged normal atoms by the light action (Franck, Kuhn u. Rollefson, Zs. f. Phys., 43, 155; 1927) follows another possibility—a direct recombination of the alkali and of the halogen atoms in a salt molecule, followed by a continuous light emission. All attempts to find this recombination spectrum have been without result. The chemiluminescence spectra emitted in the reaction between alkali atoms and the halogens have nothing to do with the continuous bands known as the absorption bands of the salts in question.