CROSS SECTIONS FOR ELECTRON-CARBON MONOXIDE COLLISIONS IN THE RANGE 1-4 ev.

Abstract

The scattering of electrons from CO molecules has been studied over the energy range from 1 to 4 ev by analyzing drift velocity data for pure CO and CO-inert gas mixtures at 294 K. The validity of using the so-called two-term approximation for the velocity distribution function in the solution of the Boltzmann equation to analyze drift velocity data for the pure gas (and thus also for the gas mixtures) has been established. The momentum transfer cross section for CO has been determined, and the measurements of the vibrational cross sections by H. Ehrhardt et al. (1968) have been renormalized. By using a solution of the Boltzmann equation which avoids the two-term approximation, these cross sections have been shown to be consistent with previous measurements of a certain transport parameter in pure CO. The results are relevant to the design and understanding of CO lasers and coal-fired MHD energy converters.