Classical calculations of H2O rotational excitation in energetic atom--molecule collisions

Classical rotational excitation probabilities for collisions of three atomic species with H2O have been calculated using a Monte Carlo procedure. The rigid rotor approximation for H2O is employed together with hard sphere scattering potentials permitting the excitation in a given collision to be calculated analytically. The results are applicable to high energy (≥ 1 eV) collisions. A procedure for constructing differential rotational excitation cross sections is presented.