Clusters and Small Particles In Gases and Plasmas [Paperback]

Not merely a discussion of small particles or clusters of atoms, molecules, but also the systems they constitute. The goal is to analyse the properties of such finite aggregates and their behaviour in gases and plasmas, and to investigate processes that involve such clusters, based on lectures and seminar problems for graduates. The main part of the book includes more than 200 problems, covering collisions, charge transfer, chemical reactions, condensed systems and their structures, kinetics of cluster growth, excited clusters, the transition from clusters to bulk particles, and small particles, dust, and aerosols in plasmas. Reference data for corresponding parameters of systems under consideration is given in the appendices. Of interest to physicists, astrophysicists, and chemists.Small particles in gaseous systems are called clusters, aerosols, dust particles, Aitken particles, etc., depending on their size, the media where they are observed, and the field of science in which they are studied. Below we call clusters systems of bound atoms or molecules containing from several atoms (molecules) up to thousands, so that their structure can be essential for determining their properties. If clusters are like bulk systems, we call them small particles. The principal pecu? liarity of clusters is with respect to magic numbers of cluster atoms that correspond to a heightened cluster stability. Magic numbers correspond to complete structures of clusters as systems of bound atoms or molecules. The values of magic nwnbers depend on the character of interaction of the cluster's atoms. Cluster parameters as a function of the number of cluster atoms n have extrema at the magic nwnbers of atoms. For example, a cluster with a magic nwnber of atoms has a higher binding energy and ionization potential than clusters with neighboring nwnbers of atoms. The difference between clusters and small particles is such that parameters of small particles are monotonic functions of the nwnber olC—