Electron capture by protons and electron loss from hydrogen atoms incollisions with hydrocarbon and hydrogen molecules in the 60–120 keV energyrange

Abstract

Cross sections for electron capture by 60–120 keV protons and electron loss from60–120 keV hydrogen atoms in collisions with molecular hydrogen, methane (CH4), acetylene (C2H2), ethylene (C2H4), ethane (C2H6), propylene(C3H6), andpropane (C3H8)have been measured. We found that the capture and loss cross sections dependlinearly on the number of carbon atoms and the number of hydrogen atoms in thetarget molecules, as predicted by the simple additivity rule. The success of theadditivity rule allowed the extraction of effective electron capture andloss cross sections for atomic hydrogen and atomic carbon targets.