The positive column of a hydrogen glow discharge was studied under typical operating conditions: gas pressure from 0.3 up to 5.0 Torr and discharge current from 1 up to 50 mA. Optical emission spectroscopy, optical absorption spectroscopy, and laser induced fluorescence have been employed in order to determine the gas temperature(300<Tg<600 K),the density of ground state hydrogen atoms(1012<[H(1s)]<1013 cm−3),and the kinetic temperature of H atoms(336<Ta<1600 K),respectively. Langmuir probes were utilized to measure the electric field(8<E<61 V cm−1)in the positive column. A kinetic model based on the solutions to the homogeneous electron Boltzmann equation coupled to a set of rate balance equations for the vibrational levelsH2(X 1&Sgr;g+,v),H atoms, andH−ions was developed in order to predict the concentrations of these species. From a comparison between the measured and calculated concentrations of H atoms, the reassociation probability on the wall, in Pyrex glass, is estimated to be≅10−2.©1997 American Institute of Physics.