Dissociation of Potassium Iodide at a Graphite Surface within the Framework of an Impulsive Model

An impulsive model of dissociation of diatomic molecules with an ionic bond (for instance, alkali halide molecules) at a graphite surface is proposed. Within the framework of this model, a single encounter of an ion with the surface can consist of several elastic hits of the ion against graphite pseudoparticles of various masses. These hits instantly follow each other and are described in general in the same way as in Logan's and Stickney's well-known hard-cube model of scattering of atoms from a solid surface. The calculation results for dissociation of KI molecules with a translational energy from 4 to 14 eV are presented.