Institute of Space and Astronautical Science/Department of Physics, Faculty of Science, Kyoto University
Abstract
On the basis of chemical kinetic consideration, we examine processing of carbon and nitrogen compounds that leads to the linear relation between the logarithmic contents of C and N in carbonaceous chondrites : log N=a log C-b, found by A. SHIMOYAMA et al. (Chem. Lett., 10,2013,1987), where a>1 and b are constants. It is shown that the linear relation results from dissociation of organic polymer in the grains before accretion to parent body-sized objects by radiation that penetrates through the grains such as cosmic ray. Condensation of volatile molecules composed of C and N is also examined as a possible process to form precursors of organic compounds in carbonaceous chondrites. From an analysis of a model thermodynamic system, it is conjectured that this process can also realize the linear relation under certain conditions