Absolute Measurements of Elastic Cross Section for Small-Angle Scattering of Electrons from N2 and O2

Abstract

Absolute elastic cross sections are measured by electron scattering for N₂ and O₂ at 37 and 60 kV. (The angle range was 5 to 70 mrad.) The comparison between the measurements and the theory (atomic independent model) gives fairly good agreement for angles larger than 30 mrad. For smaller angles considerable deviations are found. Two qualitative arguments are given to show that these differences are due to chemical binding in these diatomic molecules.