A kinetic scheme for non-equilibrium discharge in nitrogen-oxygen mixtures is developed, which almost wholly describes chemical transformations of particles in t h e cold (200 K g T < 500 K) vibrationally unexcited gas. The kinetic scheme includes processes of excitation of electronic states, destruction and ionization of heavy panicles by electron impact, associative ionization, electron attachment and detachment, electron-ion and ion-ion recombination, chemical transformations of neutral panicles (in ground and excited electronic states) and ion conversion. On the basis of kinetic modelling in the framework of the kinetic scheme proposed, the influence of the electronic excitations of nitrogen molecules and atoms on air composition dynamics is analysed L~ ~ -I 12 501-8

The work represents a ramified kinetic scheme of plasma chemical processes in a non-equilibrium hydrogen plasma that allows one to model in detail the dynamics of an electric discharge in a molecular gas. The scheme describes processes of interaction of electrons with heavy particles (including a vast set of processes of electronic-vibrational excitation of hydrogen molecules by electron impact), vibrational kinetics of the H2 molecules and processes with participation of hydrogen atoms, positive and negative ions.The possibility of reaching a high level of vibrational non-equilibrium of the molecular component of the gas under conditions characterized by high values of gas temperature and concentration of atomic hydrogen (which is an effective quencher of the vibrational levels of the H2(X) particles) is demonstrated by the examp!e of the pu!sed high-current low-pressure discharge. Such a possibility is conditioned by the high efficiency of the processes of vibrational excitation of hydrogen molecules via singlet electronic terms. It is also shown that quick gas heating during~the discharge at sufficiently high electron energy (T. 2 2 eV) is substantially governed by the processes of dissociative excitation of electronic states of the hydrogen molecules by direct electron impact.

Results are presented from investigations of multispark electric discharge in water excited along multielectrode metal-dielectric systems with gas supply into the interelectrode gaps. The intensity distribution of discharge radiation in the region covering the biologically active soft UV (190⩽λ⩽430 nm) has been determined and the absolute number of quanta in this wavelength interval has been measured. The potentiality of the slipping surface discharge in water for its disinfection is analysed. The energy expenditure for water cleansing is estimated to be as low as ~10-4 kWh l-1.

A self-consistent plasmachemical model describing the dynamics of the non-equilibrium microwave discharge in molecular nitrogen with consideration for kinetic, photochemical and electrodynamic phenomena is proposed. The photochemical block of the model accounts for the processes of photoexcitation and photoionization of nitrogen molecules in the ground and excited electronic states. Radiative emittance of the discharge plasma is conditioned by the processes of photorecombination of electrons and positive ions as well as by the processes of spontaneous radiation of electronically excited molecules. Solution of radiation transfer equations and calculation of photochemical constants were made with allowance for the vibrational-rotational structure of the corresponding radiative transitions. The calculations performed have shown that the velocities of the ionization front propagation in the microwave discharge that were observed experimentally may be explained without invoking considerations concerning the existence of easily ionizable admixtures in nitrogen. The phenomenon of electron generation in the photohalo region of the discharge is mainly conditioned by the processes of stepwise photoionization of nitrogen molecules. The mechanisms leading to the development of kinetic instabilities in the discharge region are analysed, and a satisfactory agreement between calculation and experimental results is noted.

Results of experimental determinations of the gas temperature and plasma parameters in a microwave discharge not at thermal equilibrium are presented. The investigation is concerned with high-pressure hydrogen under conditions such that radiation is emitted both by atomic and by molecular components of the plasma are primarily governed by the interaction of the excited atoms and molecules with heavy particles. Because this takes place the approximate models which are successfully applied to analyse data from spectroscopic diagnostics cannot be used to describe the radiative properties of the discharge. One of the main objectives of research consists of making headway in spectral methods of gas-temperature determination in the high pressure range by invoking for interpretation of experimental data calculations performed in the framework of the kinetic scheme of thermal non-equilibrium discharge in hydrogen as well as general physical reasoning relating to the role of interactions between heavy particles in non-equilibrium plasma radiation. The following measurement techniques have been used: spectral measurements of Balmer-series radiation; spectral measurement of the gas temperature by recording the Doppler broadening of the ; and spectral measurements of by recording the Fulcher band. In addition the electron concentration has been measured with the help of a microwave interferometer and pyrometric measurements of the temperature of a test solid body placed in a microwave-discharge plasma have been performed. Measurements of the gas temperature agree satisfactorily under the assumption that collisions of excited particles with heavy components of a gas-discharge medium are of considerable importance. Conclusions regarding the ion composition and degree of dissociation of hydrogen molecules can be drawn.