Intermolecular Potential and Second Virial Coefficient of the Water-Helium Complex

Published

January 1, 2002

Author(s)

M P. Hodges, R J. Wheatley, Allan H. Harvey

Abstract

A potential-energy surface for the water-helium complex is constructed from scaled perturbation theory calculations, and calibrated using accurate supermolecule methods. At the global minimum, the helium atom lies in the plane of the water molecule with an interaction energy corresponding to about 35 cm^-1 ( - 160 microhartree). The potential is used to calculate second virial coefficients, including first-order quantum corrections, from 100 to 2000 K. The estimated uncertainties in the calculated values are much smaller than the uncertainties of the available experimental data; the calculated values also cover a much wider range of temperature. The quantum corrections are found to be smaller in magnitude than the uncertainty in the calculated second virial coefficient.

Citation

Journal of Chemical Physics

Volume

116

Issue

No. 4

Pub Type

Journals

Download Paper

Local Download

Keywords

Helium, intermolecular potential, moist gases, perturbation theory, second virial coefficient, water

Citation

Hodges, M. , Wheatley, R. and Harvey, A. (2002), Intermolecular Potential and Second Virial Coefficient of the Water-Helium Complex, Journal of Chemical Physics, [online], https://tsapps.nist.gov/publication/get_pdf.cfm?pub_id=831761 (Accessed October 30, 2025)