A crossed-beam study of low energy Ar + H2O collisions: Charge transfer and chemical reaction

Dynamics of Ar⁺ + H₂O collisions, charge transfer (H₂O⁺ formation) and chemical reaction (ArH⁺ formation), was investigated in crossed-beam experiments in the collision energy range 1–3 eV. The charge transfer occurs both by a simple-electron-jump mechanism and in impulsive intimate collisions. The distributions of relative translational energy of the products show that, most probably, the collisions are only slightly superelastic (by about 0.1 eV), and thus the product H₂O⁺ is highly internally excited. Formation of a small amount of H₂O⁺(B²B₂) in very inelastic collisions was observed. The chemical reaction is a direct process with characteristics of the spectator stripping mechanism.