NASA Polynomial representation of molecular specific heats

Abstract

So called NASA polynomials are widely used in plasma and combustion models to represent the specific heat of molecules as a function of temperature. In this work, we compute seven-term NASA polynomials for 464 molecules of which 44 are cations and 9 are anions; polynomials are not currently available for almost 200 of these species. Calculation of the NASA polynomials utilises data provided by the ExoMol database, the HITRAN database, the diatomic partition functions computed by Barklem and Collet, and the JANAF thermodynamic tables. Our results are compared against existing polynomial compilations where available, and for cases where there are multiple datasets the recommended polynomials are identified. As proposed in the original compilation, the seven-term polynomials are fitted separately for the temperature ranges 200 – 1000 K and 1000 – 6000 K. In general, different data sources give good agreement in the lower temperature range but there are significant discrepancies at higher temperatures, which can be attributed to the underlying assumptions made about highly excited rotation-vibration energy levels.