XXIII. Collision processes in meteor trails

Abstract

Summary Extensive data on the probability that an evaporated meteor atom will produce an electron in an ionizing collision before being brought to rest are now available. To obtain from these data values of the ionization cross section for impacts between meteor atoms and atmospheric molecules the momentum loss cross section for elastic impacts of this kind must be known. These latter cross sections are calculated for roughly representative collisions in which the interaction between a meteor atom and a gas molecule is taken to be that between calcium and neon atoms calculated statistically. Values for the ionization cross sections are then derived and found to be consistent with the recent theoretical considerations of Bates and Massey (1954). The diffusion of ionization in a meteor trail is also discussed in relation to known observed data on the mobility of positive ions in gases.