High-Temperature Transport Properties of Alkali Metal Vapors

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Abstract
Estimates of the potential‐energy curves for the interaction of ground‐state alkali metal atoms have been obtained from available spectroscopic data and a semi‐empirical scaling procedure. From these curves the transport collision integrals for monatomic alkali‐metal vapors have been calculated over the temperature range 1000° to 10 000°K. Collision integrals for the diffusion of alkali‐metal ions through their parent monatomic vapors have been calculated over the same range from estimates of the charge‐exchange cross sections, obtained by a scaling procedure based on the experimental measurements for cesium. Comparison with limited existing experimental data on second virial coefficients, viscosities, thermal conductivities, and charge exchange has been made, and the collision integrals estimated to be uncertain by about 25%.