Investigating the Relationship Between Bond Length and Vibrational FrequencyBackground
Molecules can be modeled as atoms connected by springs for the purpose of estimating vibrational frequencies. The spring model suggests that vibrational frequency should be related to bond length since a shorter bond length implies a stronger force and a higher spring constant.
Procedure
1. Search the chemical literature for vibrational frequency data for single, double, and tripled bonded carbon atoms.
2. Use molecular modeling software to obtain values for interatomic distances (i.e., bond lengths) for single, double andtriple bonded carbon atoms.
3. Graph vibrational frequency versus bond length.
4. Check to see if similar relationships hold for single, double, and triple bonds between other elements.
This material is based upon work supported by the National Science
Foundation under Grant No. 9653672. Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in
this material are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the
views of the National Science Foundation.
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