Our research goals are to study the transfer of energy in collisions between a rare gases (like argon) and small molecules (in this case ethylene). Basically, we are throwing an argon atom at ethylene at various angles. Then we calculate the energy of the Ar-ethylene system as argon approaces. These potential energies are determined using classical trajectory calculations.
In the example shown below, the angle of argon approach was varied from linear to T-shaped.
The plot below is like a countour map of the potential energy for the various positions of the argon atom relative to the ethylene. The distance between argon and ethylene is represented along the x axis, while the angle of approach is represented along the y-axis.
