Nonequilibrium ionizatlon of air behind a shock wave front at speeds of 5–10 km/sec

The solution of the problem of nonequilibrium ionization of dissociating air in a shock wave propagating with a speed of 5–10 km/sec has shown that the electron concentration distribution has a maximum behind the wave front for speeds below 9 km/sec.The formation of this maximum is caused by the high associative ionization rate in comparison with the nitrogen dissociation rate. In the nonequilibrium region behind the shock wave front there is formed a considerable concentration peak of the molecular ions which are formed as a result of associative ionization and charge exchange.The author wishes to thank V. P. Stulov for useful discussions.