Mobilities of Cesium and Rubidium Ions in Their Parent Vapors

The mobilities of Rb+ and Rb2+ in rubidium vapor, and of Cs+ and Cs2+ in cesium vapor have been measured. The mobilities of the molecular ions agree well with values calculated from the Langevin theory in its polarization limit. The mobilities of the atomic ions are consistent with the predictions of simple resonant charge transfer theory. Rate constants for the reactions of the atomic ions with diatomic molecules to give diatomic molecular ions have been obtained.