Abstract
THE mechanism by which impurities influence the time for shock-treated argon to reach equilibrium ionization has been considered on numerous occasions1–4. No results have as yet been published, however, describing the effect of specific impurities. To remedy this situation, I am now making measurements of the total ionization times (see Fig. 1) in primary shocks through argon to which controlled amounts of various gaseous impurities have been added. The degree of ionization is monitored by following the time dependence of the intensity of the continuum emission at 4900 Å. Preliminary results show that hydrogen, at concentrations greater than 100 p.p.m., produces a very pronounced decrease in the total ionization time, and this communication suggests a novel explanation for this effect.
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COATES, P. Effect of Hydrogen-containing Impurities on Ionization Times in Shock-heated Argon. Nature 211, 300 (1966). https://doi.org/10.1038/211300a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/211300a0
