Use of the Monte Carlo method for determining the nonequilibrium energy distribution in the translational degrees of freedom in a one-component reacting system

One can determine the accuracy of a perturbation-the ory solution if a more general solution to Boltzmann's equqtion is known; but there are major difficulties in obtaining such a solution even by computer methods. It is better to employ Monte Carlo methods, which allow one to simulate mathematically the collision processes that produce the actual (generally nonequllibrium) energy distribution over the translational degrees of freedom. These methods allow one to perform an ideal mathematical experiment employing the same cross sections as an analytic solution. The Monte Carlo approach has been used to simulate thermal dissociation in a two-component gas system [4], and an iterative form of the method has been used to