Knowledge Bank

For most molecules having a large amplitude motion, such as the ammonia inversion, a one dimensional model has proven satisfactory for analysis of the experimental data. However, it is well-known that the effective potential energy for the inversion does contain contributions which arise from interactions with other vibrations. An approach has been developed that allows for isolation of the inversion from the other vibrations. It has been possible to calculate the contribution of these dynamic effects to the effective potential energy for the inversion of $NHa$, $NH2D1$ and $ND2H$.