The Forces Between Neutral Molecules and Metallic Surfaces

Abstract

A general formula is developed for the interaction between a neutral molecule and a metal, and its relation to the image force law is exhibited, (Section III). The latter is shown to be valid only for molecules containing slowly moving charges, such as rigid permanent dipoles. A fairly accurate evaluation of the general formula involving empirical polarizabilities, $f$ values, and resonance frequencies is made in Section IV. The numerical values for a number of gases and metals are collected in Tables I and II.