Classical calculations of NH3 and H2O rotational excitation in energetic collisions with atomic oxygen

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Abstract
Classical, rigid rotor rotational excitation probabilities have been calculated for a symmetric top, NH3, and an asymmetric rotor, H2O, undergoing high energy collisions with atomic oxygen. A Monte Carlo procedure was utilized to determine both the probability distributions for total translational to rotational energy transfer and the resulting distributions of rotational angular momenta. Intermolecular potentials constructed from interpenetrating hard spheres were employed to obtain results applicable to high energy (?1 eV) atom/rigid rotor collisions.