A process in which a molecule moving with high velocity strikes a solid and the electrons that bond the molecule are torn off rapidly in violent collisions with the electrons of the solid; as a result, the molecule is suddenly transformed into a cluster of charged atomic constituents that then separate under the influence of their mutual Coulomb repulsion. The initial velocity of the molecule is typically greater than 3 × 10⁶ ft/s (10⁶ m/s), and it takes on the order of 10^-17 s for electrons to be torn off the molecule. Typically, it takes about 10^-15 s for the initial Coulomb potential energy of the cluster to be converted into kinetic energy as the charged fragments recede from one another.