Vibrational and Rotational Excitation of Diatomic Molecules. Two-Dimensional Model

Abstract

The change of energy of a diatomic molecule upon collision with an atom in two dimensions was calculated. The energy contributed to the various internal degrees of freedom of the molecule was evaluated. The vibrational transition probabilities obtained were compared to experimental data for the case of O2→Ar collisions. By contrasting these results with those of a one-dimensional treatment, the form of a realistic three-dimensional potential function was predicted. It was found that at lower initial rotational energies, transfer of energy from rotational to vibrational degrees of freedom is as effective as translational→vibrational transfer. For higher initial rotational energy, rotational→vibrational transfer is shown to be less probable.