Past exam of the chemistry course of the year 3 of the natural sciences course of the University of Cambridge / 2022 / Paper 2B / Section B / 34 / c

Table of contents
- Solution c

Solution

The ground-state dissociation energy starts at the lowest vibrational level, rather than the minimum of the potential. The zero-point energy of the Morse oscillator is

E_{0} = h c ω (\frac{1}{2} - \frac{x _{e}}{4}) = D_{e} (2 x_{e} - x_{e}^{2}) .

Subtracting it from the bond potential-well depth gives

D_{0} = D_{e} - E_{0} = D_{e} (1 - 2 x_{e} + x_{e}^{2}) = D_{e} (1 - x_{e})^{2} .

This distinction matters whenever a dissociation energy is inferred from a vibrational spectrum.

 Ancestors (13)

 View article source

 Discussion (0)

There are no discussions about this article yet.

 Articles by others on the same topic (0)

There are currently no matching articles.

  See all articles in the same topic Create my own version