Abstract
IN a paper before the American Physical Society (Phys. Rev., 23, 294, Feb. 1924) and in a letter to NATURE (Nov. 1, 1924, vol. 114, p. 642), I gave a set of electronic energy levels for the neutral nitrogen molecule, based on an analysis of its band spectra. These levels were designated X, A, B, C, and D, where X denotes the stable state of the molecule. The interval X to A was suggested as 65,000v (= 8.0 volts), the band system corresponding to this transition being as yet unknown. Dr. Sponer (Zeitsch. f. Phys., 34, 622, 1925), by measuring the excitation potentials of various groups of nitrogen bands, has now obtained results in exact agreement with this diagram. The X to A interval comes out as 7.9 volts.
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BIRGE, R. The Energy Levels of the Nitrogen Molecule. Nature 117, 81 (1926). https://doi.org/10.1038/117081a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/117081a0
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