ИСТИНА

Molecular nitrogen is the main molecular gas in the Titan’s atmosphere. We study the electronic kinetics of triplet states of N2 at the altitudes of 50-250 km during the precipitation of cosmic rays. Intramolecular and intermolecular electron energy transfer processes during inelastic molecular collisions with N2, CH4, CO are taken into account. We present vibrational populations of triplet states at different altitudes of Titan’s middle atmosphere. The important role of molecular collisions in the population of metastable molecular nitrogen is shown. We study the inelastic interaction of electronically excited N2 molecules with acetylene C2H2 and ethylene C2H4 molecules at the altitudes of the middle atmosphere. It was shown for the first time that the inelastic interaction dominates in the formation of C2H and C2H3radicals at the altitudes. The main contribution in the radical formation is related with collisions of metastable molecular nitrogen with acetylene and ethylene molecules. The possible role of the reactions in hydrocarbon production is discussed.