Model Calculations of Transport Coefficients for a Gas of Tetrahedral Molecules in a Magnetic Field

Abstract

Methods by which the classical collision integrals for nonlinear polyatomic molecules can be computed are developed for rigid models having tetrahedral symmetry. Using these models the thermal conductivity and shear viscosity coefficients for CH4, CD4, and CF4 in field-free space and in a static magnetic field are calculated. The agreement with experiment, whenever comparison is possible, is moderately satisfactory for the thermal conductivity but not for the shear viscosity. These results are comparable to those found using rigid models for linear molecules.