Energetics of the charge-stripping process from negative ions. A new method for the estimation of electron affinities

Abstract

A negative ion A^– with a high translational energy may be converted into a non-decomposing ion A⁺ after a glancing collision with a neutral molecule; if both A^– and A⁺ are in their ground state, the translational energy difference (ΔE) between A^– and A⁺ equals the sum of the electron affinity (E.A.) and the ionisation energy (I.E.) of A, and if the I.E. is known, measurement of ΔE provides a method for the estimation of the E.A. to within an estimated accuracy of 0·4 eV.