Preduction of transport properties of gases using classical nonspherical models

The general formulation of the classical kinetic theory, which is needed to predict transport properties of gases in situations where the hydrodynamic equations are valid, is reviewed. A rigid convex model of tetrahedral symmetry is used to predict the Senftleben-Beenakker effect of a static magnetic field on the thermal conductivity and viscosity of pure CH/sub 4/, CD/sub 4/ and CF/sub 4/. The parameters of the model are optimized and are found to assume physically reasonable values. The calculations agree with experiment to a degree comparable to that of similar work on diatomic molecules. A generalized scattering cross section, ..gamma.., is defined which can be evaluated exactly for the limiting cases of a spherical soft potential and rigid ovaloids. For a general soft nonspherical interaction of the Kihara type, a suitable approximation for the momentum dependence is made with the following attributes: ..gamma.. reduces to the form for soft sphere and rigid ovaloid in the limits and the resulting matrix elements of the collision operator can be written in terms of the familiar ..cap omega..* integrals. This formulation is used to investigate thermal diffusion in binary isotopic mixtures of CO. Calculations are made in an 80/sup 0/K to 300/sup 0/K range which includes the inversion temperatures for all mixtures studied. Thermal conductivity and diffusion coefficients of CO are also calculated. The parameters of the model can be adjusted to account for the major features of the experimental data. The physical significance of the parameters is discussed. (auth)