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Ramsauer Effect
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Warning! The following article is from The Great Soviet Encyclopedia (1979). It might
be outdated or ideologically biased.
in the narrow sense, a high degree of transparency of the molecules or atoms of a gas
to low-energy electrons; in a more general sense, the anomalousfrom the standpoint
of classical physicscharacter of the interaction of electrons with the neutral atoms or
molecules of some gases. The effect was discovered in 1921 by the German physicist C.
Ramsauer in a study of the scattering of electrons in argon. It was later detected in
other, heavier inert gases and was also indirectly confirmed in the investigation of
electron mobility in gases.
The Ramsauer effect is expressed in the presence of a pronounced minimum of the
effective cross section for collisions of electrons with atoms at electron energies of
about 1 electron volt (eV) and in the subsequent increase of until it reaches a
maximum at about 12 eV (Figure 1). This phenomenon is inexplicable within the
framework of classical particle mechanics. The reason for the effect is that in
processes of interaction with atoms low-energy electrons behave like waves (seeDE
BROGUE WAVES and WAVE-PARTICLE DUALITY). When the wavelength corresponding to the

moving electron and the characteristic dimensions of the atom are in a certain
relation, particularly favorable conditions are created for the unhindered passage of
the wave through the atom.
Figure 1. Effective cross section for the elastic
scattering of electrons s in different gases as a
function of electron energy W
In the more rigorous quantum mechanical
explanation of the Ramsauer effect, the electron
wave is decomposed into harmonics associated
with the different values of the quantized angular
momentum of the electron with respect to the scattering atom, and the phase shifts
introduced into these harmonics by the field of the atom are studied. The Ramsauer
effect results if a phase shift corresponding to an integral number of wavelengths is
introduced into the harmonic that provides the principal contribution to the effective

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cross section. Calculations have substantiated the presence of the Ramsauer effect in
Ar and other heavy inert gases and its absence in H2, He, and Ne. The quantum
mechanical character of the scattering of electrons in gases is also evidenced, in
addition to the Ramsauer effect, in the angular distribution of the scattered electrons,
where alternating maxima and minima are observed (the Ramsauer effect is in some
respects analogous to wave interference).
The Ramsauer effect plays an important role in processes that accompany electrical
discharges in gases. It determines, for example, the dependence of the characteristics
of the discharge plasma on gas pressure and is responsible for many phenomena
associated with electron mobility.

REFERENCES
Artsimovich, L. A. Elementarnaiafizikaplazmy, 2nd ed. Moscow, 1966.
Massey, H., and E. Burhop. Elektronnye i ionnye stolknoveniia. Moscow, 1958.
(Translated from English.)
The Great Soviet Encyclopedia, 3rd Edition (1970-1979). 2010 The Gale Group, Inc.
All rights reserved.

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