The Vibrations of Molecules - II : The Carbon Dioxide Molecule©
George L. Hardgrove Chemistry Department St. Olaf College Northfield, MN 55057 United States mail to: hardgrov@stolaf.edu
Abstract
This pair of documents provide a basic introduction to harmonic motion in a triatomic molecule. With these documents students explore the effect of initial velocity and position on the mode of vibration obtained by solving classical equations of motion. The co2run.mcd document permits students to create a simple animation of two of the modes of vibration for carbon dioxide. Matrix algebra is used to transform the coordinates representing the molecule from Cartesian coordinates to internal coordinates. The instructional document gives another example of using Legrange's equation of motion. The document can be used as an introduction to Molecular Dynamics. Elementary differential calculus is required. Mathcad 6.0+ is required to use the co2run.mcd document. Student active learning is supported by a set of questions that direct their exploration of the mathematical and physical concepts.
Keywords
Audiences: Upper-Division Undergraduate Pedagogies: Computer-Based Learning Domains: Physical Chemistry Topics: Mathematics / Symbolic Mathematics, Molecular Mechanics / Dynamics, Quantum Chemistry
Documents
File Name Description Software Type Software Version co2ins.mcd Instructional and Computational Mathcad Document Mathcad 6 co2run.mcd Instructional and Computational Mathcad Document Mathcad 6 co2ins.pdf Read-Only Document co2run.pdf Read-Only Document
Comments to: George Hardgrove at hardgrov@stolaf.edu
©Copyright George Hardgrove, 1996, 1997. All rights reserved. You are welcome to use this document in your own classes but commercial use is not allowed without the permission of the author.