Harmonic diatomic molecule

As our first model problem, we take the motion of a diatomic molecule under an external force field. For simplicity, it is assumed that (i) the motion is pla nar, (ii) the two atoms have equal mass m = 1, and (iii) the chemical bond is modeled by a stiff harmonic spring with equilibrium length ro = 1. Denoting the positions of the two atoms hy e 71, i = 1,2, the corresponding Hamiltonian function is of type... 

We have seen in Section 1.3.6 how the vibrational energy levels of a diatomic molecule, treated in the harmonic oscillator approximation, are given by... 

Just as the electrical behaviour of a real diatomic molecule is not accurately harmonic, neither is its mechanical behaviour. The potential function, vibrational energy levels and wave functions shown in Figure f.i3 were derived by assuming that vibrational motion obeys Hooke s law, as expressed by Equation (1.63), but this assumption is reasonable only... 

Figure 6.4 Potential energy curve and energy levels for a diatomic molecule behaving as an anharmonic oscillator compared with those for a harmonic oscillator (dashed curve)...

In an approximation which is analogous to that which we have used for a diatomic molecule, each of the vibrations of a polyatomic molecule can be regarded as harmonic. Quantum mechanical treatment in the harmonic oscillator approximation shows that the vibrational term values G(v ) associated with each normal vibration i, all taken to be nondegenerate, are given by... 

As for a diatomic molecule, the general harmonic oscillator selection mle for infrared and Raman vibrational transitions is... 

In the lowest approximation the molecular vibrations may be described as those of a harmonic oscillator. These can be derived by expanding the energy as a function of the nuclear coordinates in a Taylor series around the equilibrium geometry. For a diatomic molecule this is the intemuclear distance R. 

In the case of simple diatomic molecules it is possible to calculate the vibrational frequencies by treating the molecule as a harmonic oscillator. The frequency of vibration is given by ... 

Vibrational Energy Levels A diatomic molecule has a single set of vibrational energy levels resulting from the vibration of the two atoms around the center of mass of the molecule. A vibrating molecule is usually approximated by a harmonic oscillatord for which... 

Under most circumstances the equations given in Table 10.4 accurately calculate the thermodynamic properties of the ideal gas. The most serious approximations involve the replacement of the summation with an integral [equations (10.94) and (10.95)] in calculating the partition function for the rigid rotator, and the approximation that the rotational and vibrational partition functions for a gas can be represented by those for a rigid rotator and harmonic oscillator. In general, the errors introduced by these approximations are most serious for the diatomic molecule." Fortunately, it is for the diatomic molecule that corrections are most easily calculated. It is also for these molecules that spectroscopic information is often available to make the corrections for anharmonicity and nonrigid rotator effects. We will summarize the relationships... 

E10.6 For the diatomic molecule Na2, 5 = 230.476 J-K-1-mol" at T= 300 K, and 256.876 J-K-,-mol-1 at T= 600 K. Assume the rigid rotator and harmonic oscillator approximations and calculate u, the fundamental vibrational frequency and r, the interatomic separation between the atoms in the molecule. For a diatomic molecule, the moment of inertia is given by l pr2, where p is the reduced mass given by... 

Table A4.5 summarizes the equations for calculating anharmonicity and nonrigid rotator corrections for diatomic molecules. These corrections are to be added to the thermodynamic properties calculated from the equations given in Table A4.1 (which assume harmonic oscillator and rigid rotator approximations).

The isotopic difference between the mean squares of the displacements in equation (7) can be calculated if the carbon-hydrogen oscillator is treated as a diatomic molecule. It is easily shown that for constant potential the mean square of the displacement from the equilibrium position of the harmonic oscillator will be inversely proportional to the square root of the reduced mass, /x, and hence... 

Molecules possess discrete levels of rotational and vibrational energy. Transitions between vibrational levels occur by absorption of photons with frequencies v in the infrared range (wavelength 1-1000 p,m, wavenumbers 10,000-10 cm , energy differences 1240-1.24 meV). The C-0 stretch vibration, for example, is at 2143 cm . For small deviations of the atoms in a vibrating diatomic molecule from their equilibrium positions, the potential energy V(r) can be approximated by that of the harmonic oscillator ... 

The vibrational energy of a diatomic molecule is given in the harmonic approximation by... 

The interatomic potential function for the diatomic molecule was described in Section 6 5. In the Taylpr-series development of this function (6-72)3 cubic and higher terms were neglected in the harmonic approximation. It is now of interest to evaluate the importance of these so-called anharmonic terms with the aid of the perturbation theory outlined above. If cubic and quartic... 

Next, we address some simple cases, begining with homonuclear diatomic molecules in 1S electronic states. The rotational wave functions are in this case the well-known spherical harmonics for even J values, yr(R) is symmetric under permutation of the identical nuclei for odd J values, y,.(R) is antisymmetric under the same permutation. A similar statement applies for any D.yjh type molecule. 

The interaction of even simple diatomic molecules with strong laser fields is considerably more complicated than the interaction with atoms. In atoms, nearly all of the observed phenomena can be explained with a simple three-step model [1], at least in the tunneling regime (1) The laser field releases the least bound electron through tunneling ionization (2) the free electron evolves in the laser field and (3) under certain conditions, the electron can return to the vicinity of the ion core, and either collisionally ionize a second electron [2], scatter off the core and gain additional kinetic energy [3], or recombine with the core and produce a harmonic photon [4]. 

Even for a diatomic molecule the nuclear Schrodinger equation is generally so complicated that it can only be solved numerically. However, often one is not interested in all the solutions but only in the ground state and a few of the lower excited states. In this case the harmonic approximation can be employed. For this purpose the potential energy function is expanded into a Taylor series about the equilibrium separation, and terms up to second order are kept. For a diatomic molecule this results in ... 

In the general case R denotes a set of coordinates, and Ui(R) and Uf (R) are potential energy surfaces with a high dimension. However, the essential features can be understood from the simplest case, which is that of a diatomic molecule that loses one electron. Then Ui(R) is the potential energy curve for the ground state of the molecule, and Uf(R) that of the ion (see Fig. 19.2). If the ion is stable, which will be true for outer-sphere electron-transfer reactions, Uf(R) has a stable minimum, and its general shape will be similar to that of Ui(R). We can then apply the harmonic approximation to both states, so that the nuclear Hamiltonians Hi and Hf that correspond to Ui and Uf are sums of harmonic oscillator terms. To simplify the mathematics further, we make two additional assumptions ... 

Fig. 3.1 Born-Oppenheimer vibrational potentials for a diatomic molecule corresponding to the CH fragment. The experimentally realistic anharmonic potential (solid line) is accurately described by the Morse function Vmorse = De[l — exp(a(r — r0)]2 with De = 397kJ/mol, a = 2A and ro = 1.086 A (A = Angstrom = 10 10m). Near the origin the BO potential is adequately approximated by the harmonic oscillator (Hooke s Law) function (dashed line), Vharm osc = f(r — ro)2/2. The harmonic oscillator force constant f = 2a2De...

The discussion of the previous section amounts to a qualitative treatment of harmonic vibrational motion. The harmonic potential function on which the molecule vibrates has been described in terms of displacement of bond stretches from the equilibrium configuration for the diatomic molecule for water, displacement of... 

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