Kristopher Jayson C.

Bondoc
CH 48 B

Rotational-Vibrational Spectrum of a Diatomic Gas

Results

Figure 1: Dependence of wavenumber to m

3200
3100
f(x) = − 0.296951730746197 x² + 20.3962450592885 x + 2884.75068870523
R² = 0.99997628609815 3000
wavenumber (cm-1)

2900
2800
2700
2600
2500
2400
-15 -10 -5 0 5 10 15
m

Table 1: m and the wavenumber

Resolution 2 Resolution 4
Rotational
m Wavenumber Wavenumber Figure 2: HCl IR spectrum at Res 2
Branch
(cm-1) (cm-1)
-11 2625 2625 7
6.5
-10 2651 2652 6
-9 2677 2677 5.5
Transmittance

5
-8 2702 2702 4.5
-7 2727 2727 4
3.5
P -6 2752 2750 3
-5 2776 2776 2.5
2
-4 2799 2799 2500 2600 2700 2800 2900 3000 3100 3200 3300
-3 2821 2820
Wavenumber (cm-1)
-2 2843 2843
-1 2864 2864
1 2906 2905
Figure 3: HCl IR spectrum at Res 4
2 2926 2924
3 2944 2943 4.5
4 2963 2963
4
5 2981 2980
3.5
Transmittance

R 6 2998 2997
7 3014 3013 3
8 3030 3028 2.5
9 3045 3044 2
10 3059 3059 1.5
11 3073 3073 2550 2650 2750 2850 2950 3050 3150
Wavenumber (cm-1)
Discussion
In this experiment, a gas molecule HCl was modeled by IR spectroscopy to find out some of its properties that relates
energy to molecular motion. By studying the molecule’s vibrational spectrum in IR spectroscopy, one can obtain the
indices of rotational lines with the J and m values. By plotting m values with the corresponding wavenumber, one
can also get the equation that defines some physical quantities regarding the molecule of interest. From Figure 1,
the equation is:

y = -0.297x2 + 20.396x + 2884.8; Eq. 1

and the plotting was guided by the following concept:

From Figure 1, it can be safely assumed that the plots were identically. So, to simplify the problem, one equation will
now be used for computations.

2
Using the equation in the form: v=−α m + ( 2 B−2 α ) m+v o , Eq. 1 can provide the following physical quantities:

α = Vibration-Rotation Interaction Constant (cm-1) = 0.297

B = Rotational Constant (cm-1) = 10.495
vo = Fundamental Vibration Frequency (s-1) = 2884.8

Since B is now known, the moment of inertia, I, may be calculated:

ℏ 2
I= =2.65 amu Å
4 πcB

and thus, R =
√ I = 0.1260 nm.
μ

Errors might be due to the impurities found in the sample. And the equations used are idealized and hence, will bring
systematic errors.

Conclusion

By using IR, physical quantities regarding molecular motion and energy can be derived. For the case of HCl, one can
obtain also the moment of inertia as well as the intermolecular bond length.