Destruction of the ozone protecting layer: Charge-separation mechanism in clusters

A model is constructed that explains the intense accumulation of chlorine in stratospheric ice microclusters. The model is approved in detail for quantitative consistency using Monte-Carlo computer simulation. A complex interparticle-interaction model is used that includes nonpair forces, charge transfer, and corrections for the quantum-statistical uncertainty in nuclear positions. In the presence of thermal fluctuations, two thermodynamically stable states of the HCl molecule —bound and dissociated — occur in water clusters. In clusters containing more than 35 water molecules, molecular dissociation into ions becomes thermodynamically favorable under the conditions of the polar stratosphere.