Crossed beam study of the rainbow scattering of Hg by I/sub 2/: Determination of the binding energy of the HgxI/sub 2/ adduct

Journal Article · Sat May 01 04:00:00 EDT 1976 · J. Chem. Phys.; (United States)

OSTI ID:7354634

Wilcomb, B E; Haberman, J A; Bickes, Jr, R W; Mayer, T M; Bernstein, R B

Angular distribution measurements of seeded supersonic atomic beams of Hg scattered by a crossed thermal molecular beam of I/sub 2/ are reported. The experiments have been performed at two average collision energies: E=0.25 and 0.37 eV. The angular distributions show unresolved rainbow maxima, from which the intermolecular potential well depth has been estimated. Several approximate methods of analysis, assuming realistic potential models and utilizing only the location of the rainbow, have yielded well depths in the range 625--680 K. A more reliable determination of epsilon has been carried out by an iterative fitting procedure involving calculation of the entire angular distribution(s). For an assumed Lennard-Jones (12,6) potential, the well depth is 670 +- 25 K. This corresponds to a binding energy for the HgxI/sub 2/ adduct (i.e., the van der Waals molecule) of 0.058 eV or 5.6 kJ mol/sup -1/. The absence of fully resolved rainbow structure in the observed angular distributions is evidence for a significant noncentral component in the intermolecular potential (leading to anisotropic quenching and concurrent inelasticity). (AIP)

• Research Organization: Departments of Chemistry and Physics, The University of Texas at Austin, Austin, Texas 78712
• OSTI ID: 7354634
• Journal Information: J. Chem. Phys.; (United States), Journal Name: J. Chem. Phys.; (United States) Vol. 64:9; ISSN JCPSA
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

640301 -- Atomic
Molecular & Chemical Physics-- Beams & their Reactions
640304* -- Atomic
Molecular & Chemical Physics-- Collision Phenomena
71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS
GENERAL PHYSICS
74 ATOMIC AND MOLECULAR PHYSICS
ANGULAR DISTRIBUTION
ATOM COLLISIONS
ATOM-MOLECULE COLLISIONS
ATOMIC BEAMS
BEAMS
BINDING ENERGY
COLLIDING BEAMS
COLLISIONS
DISTRIBUTION
ELEMENTS
ENERGY
FLUID FLOW
HALOGENS
INTERATOMIC FORCES
IODINE
MERCURY
METALS
MOLECULAR BEAMS
MOLECULE COLLISIONS
NONMETALS
SCATTERING
SUPERSONIC FLOW