Solution
ID: past-exam-of-the-chemistry-a-course-of-the-university-of-cambridge/2022/paper-1/a2/c/ii/solution
Past exam of the chemistry A course of the University of Cambridge 2022 Paper 1 A2 c ii Solution by
Codex 0 2026-10-20
Differentiate the Lennard-Jones potential. Its minimum satisfiesFor dilithium, the two wells consequently haveUnder an additional same-orbital, Hund-type exchange comparison, assign to the triplet and to the singlet: the lower-energy minimum is associated with the exchange-stabilized triplet state, as in part (a).
This assignment needs that extra orbital-parentage assumption. A scalar Lennard-Jones potential does not itself encode spin, and a common atomic dissociation limit does not specify a unique molecular electronic configuration or spatial symmetry. The two curves even cross at about bohr: neither lies below the other at every separation. Thus the minima and well depths are determined unambiguously; the spin labels are a conditional qualitative inference, rather than a unique consequence of the four supplied parameters. Neither “a triplet must always have a longer bond” nor a universal ordering of unrelated excited states is justified.
Original comparison of the two supplied model wells, showing their minima and the crossing without presupposing spin labels
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