Vibrational Spectroscopy Flashcards
How many degrees of freedom does an atom have?
3
How many degrees of freedom are there in a diatomic molecule?
6
How many types of motion are there?
Translations - in phase displacements of atoms along cartesian coordinates - no change in internuclear separation or molecular orientation
Rotation: centre of mass is unchanged, no chang ein internuclear separation but orientation change wrt external frame of reference - ot defined
Vibration - a motion of the nuclei in which the centre of mass and orientation remain unchanged but where a change has occurred in internal coordinates - bond length/angle
How many degrees of freedom are there for N atoms?
3N
How many vibrations do linear and non-linear molecules have?
Linear: 3 translations, 2 rotation = 3N - 5 vibrations
Non-linear: 3 translation, 3 rotations = 3N - 6 vibrations
What are normal modes of vibration?
The natural vibrations of a molecule
For each normal mode all of the nuclei:
undergo simple harmonic motion
have the same frequency of oscillation
move in phase but generally with different amplitudes
What is Hook’s law and the potential energy if a classical harmonic oscillator?
F = -kx when k = force constat and x is the displacement from equilibria
restoring force - the negative gradient potential energy
How many vibrational modes does water have and what are they?
Non-linear
3N - 6 = (3x3) - 6 = 3
Stretches have higher frequencies than bends
v1 - symmetric stretch is the highest frequency in water
How do we treat each normal mode of vibration?
Each normal mode acts as a harmonic oscillator with vibrational energies
How do we find the vibrational energy levels?
Solve the Schrodinger equation for a harmonic oscialltor
What are the vibrational energies for an anharmonic oscillator?
The anharmonic oscillator levels converge to the dissociation limit De
Experimentally the dissociation energy is measured relatuve to the zero-point
ωe is the spacing that the energy levels would have if the potenial were harmonic with the curvature the actuak curve has at its minimum
How is the actual spacing between a ;pair of energy levels in an anharmonic oscillator calculated?
What are the wavefunctions and wavefunctions squared of a harmionic oscillator?
What are the wavefunctions and wavefunction squared of an anharmonic oscillator?
What are some importamt characteristics of normal modes?
In general made up of simultaneous stretching and bending of bonds
Bending vibrations generally lower vrequency than strethches
Heavy atoms move less than lioghter ones
Even at the zero point all normal modes are excited simultaneously
How do we measure IR spectra?
Measure I/I0 - Transmittence where I is the output and I0 is the incident intensity
100% transmittence = no absorption
What happens to the molecule in an IR experiment?
Absorption of an infrared photon promotes a transition from v=0 to v=1
Only photons whose energy exactly match the difference in energy between the two levels will be absorbed
What is the difference between dispersion IR and Fourier transform IR
Dispersion meaures the absorbance of IR radiation as a function of wavelength by dspersing the transmitted light through a monochrometer
A fourier transform instrument measures all IR wavelengths simultaneously using an interferometer with a key advantage being greatly increased speed of meaurement