We report electron-energy-loss spectroscopy, within the incident electron energy range 1 to 19 eV, of solid films of acetone condensed at 18 K. The strong Rydberg progressions, which usually dominate the spectra in the gas phase, are found to completely disappear in the solid phase. In the absence of these transitions, the remaining broad bands centered at 4.3, 4.5, 6.2, 8.7, and 9.8 eV energy loss can be assigned to the 1 (3)A(2)(n -->pi*), 1 (1)A(2)(n -->pi*), 1 (3)A(1)(pi -->pi*), 1 B-3(1)(sigma -->pi*), and 2 (3)A(2)(sigma -->pi*) valence electronic transition of acetone, respectively. A broad feature ranging from 11 to 16 eV and having a maximum around 13.8 eV is ascribed to several overlapping autoionizing excited states. From a comparison with infrared and Raman spectra, the energy-loss peaks observed below 1 eV are found to be due to excitation of the fundamental, overtone, and combination vibrational modes of the molecule. Their incident energy dependence is showing broad vibrational enhancement maxima at 4, 7, and 9 eV, which are attributed to the formation of single-particle or shape resonances of B-2(1), (2)A(1), and (2)A(2) (or B-2(2)) symmetries, respectively. (C) 2000 American Institute of Physics. [S0021-9606(00)01215-0].