Simultaneous Ionisation and Excitation by Foreign Ions in a Gaseous Mixture

Abstract

WE have recently carried out some experiments which indicate that an ion of one kind may, upon collision with a molecule of another gas, ionise that molecule and excite the resulting ion to the degree that the energy required to ionise the one exceeds the energy required to ionise the other. This means that an ion may rob a molecule of an electron, and at the same time give to the resulting ion the excess of energy made available by its recombination with the electron over the amount needed to take that electron out of the molecule. As the energies of excitation are quantised, there is usually still a remnant of the energy of recombination yet to be accounted for, and this probably goes into increased kinetic energy of one or both particles involved in the collision.