Kinetic energy deposited into a nanodroplet, cluster, or molecule in a sticking collision with background gas

TL;DR

This paper derives an exact formula to quantify the kinetic energy transferred to nanodroplets, clusters, or molecules during sticking collisions with background gas, applicable across various relative speeds.

Contribution

It provides a novel, exact expression for kinetic energy deposition in sticking collisions with Maxwell-Boltzmann gases, regardless of relative particle and gas speeds.

Findings

Exact expression for energy transfer derived

Applicable for arbitrary relative speeds

Enhances understanding of particle-gas collision dynamics

Abstract

In processes when particles such as nanodroplets, clusters, or molecules move through a dilute background gas and undergo capture collisions, it is often important to know how much translational kinetic energy is deposited into the particles by these pick-up events. For sticking collisions with a Maxwell-Boltzmann gas, an exact expression is derived which is valid for arbitrary relative magnitudes of the particle and thermal gas speeds.