Past exam of the chemistry A course of the University of Cambridge / 2025 / Paper 2 / A6 / b / i / Solution

Relative to the ground state, the quantum harmonic oscillator levels are $vhc\tilde{\omega }$. Put ${\theta }_v=hc\tilde{\omega }/k$. Summing the geometric series gives the vibrational partition function $q=(1-e^{-{\theta }_v/T}{)}^{-1}$. Therefore the vibrational internal energy isThe omitted zero-point energy would add $Nhc\tilde{\omega }/2$ if absolute oscillator energies were used.