Destruction of the ozone protecting layer: Charge-separation mechanism in clusters

A model is constructed that explains the intense accumulation of chlorine in stratospheric ice microclusters. The model is approved in detail for quantitative consistency using Monte-Carlo computer simulation. A complex interparticle-interaction model is used that includes nonpair forces, charge transfer, and corrections for the quantum-statistical uncertainty in nuclear positions. In the presence of thermal fluctuations, two thermodynamically stable states of the HCl molecule—bound and dissociated—occur in water clusters. In clusters containing more than 35 water molecules, molecular dissociation into ions becomes thermodynamically favorable under the conditions of the polar stratosphere.