Real-time analysis of the reaction products of shocked solid nitric oxide

Abstract We have determined the reaction products from shocking solid NO. The shock was sufficient to produce detonation products. Small charges of NO at a temperature of 30 K are shocked by detonating PETN boosters in a high vacuum apparatus. The expanded products are allowed to form a molecular beam and are detected by a mass filter as a function of time after detonation. The principal products are N2, O2, N2O, and NO2. We can account for the product intensities on the basis of a simple mechanism: Each reaction consumes 19%, 10%, and 36% respectively of the NO in the charge. The threshold velocity of 7 km s−1 for N2 and O2 indicate that detonation of NO contributed to these products. We present the results of a Langrangian computer model of the free expansion to interpret the dynamics and the chemistry in our experiments. It confirms that reactions are rapidly quenched by adiabatic cooling and that the product flow becomes self-similar after expansion of only a few charge diameters. We've also obtained an absorption spectrum of one of the products NO2, in the wavelength region 430–472nm. The internal temperature of these molecules is about 300 K, much lower than the estimated detonation temperature of 2500 K.