Gabor explained that the quantum mechanical phenomenon his team observed in their device is similar to what occurs when cosmic rays, coming into contact with the Earth's atmosphere with high kinetic energy, produce an array of new particles. (sciencedaily.com)
In addition, they isolated representative ions with the instrument and fragmented these clusters through high kinetic energy collisions with an inert background gas to provide insight into the structure and stability of the clusters. (pnnl.gov)
When air is hot, the molecules move fast and they have high kinetic energy. (scientificamerican.com)