Exploring the Morse Potential
Theresa Julia Zielinski Department of Chemistry, Medical Technology, and Physics, Monmouth University, West Long Branch, NJ 07764-1898
tzielins@monmouth.edu
Translated to Mathematica by:
Laura Yindra
Department of Chemistry, University of Wisconsin—Madison, Madison, WI 53715
Translated to Maple 6 by:
Louis Kijewski
Department of Chemistry, Medical Technology, and Physics, Monmouth University, West Long Branch, NJ 07764
Translated to Maple 10 by:
Charles G. James, Jr. Dept. of Chemistry, University of North Carolina at Asheville, Asheville, NC 28804-3299
james@unca.edu
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Abstract
In many texts the Morse potential for a bond or a diatomic molecule is not shown with units and students often wonder how the author generated the plot from the equations given in the text. Students also have difficulty with the units used when computing molecular or atomic properties such as the potential energy of a diatomic molecule. The goal of Exploring the Morse Potential is to provide hands on practice with the Morse potential energy function and the units used for calculating this potential. In the document is a step by step description of how to create the Morse potential function for HCl. Since units are used at every step, this document is an excellent showcase for the unit analysis power of Mathcad. The Mathcad unit handling feature makes the MorsePotential.mcd document a suitable device by which to emphasize the units used in atomic and molecular calculations. On the practical side, students can use this document to examine the behavior of the Morse potential as each parameter used to define this potential is varied. This allows students to develop a firm understanding about the relationship of each parameter to molecular properties such as bond length and dissociation energy. The document concludes with a series of exercises to reinforce student learning.
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Keywords
Domain: Laboratory Instruction; Physical Chemistry; Pedagogy: Computer-Based Learning; Topics: Mathematics / Symbolic Mathematics; Quantum Chemistry; Spectroscopy; UV-Vis Spectroscopy;
JCE Citation
Zielinski, T. J. J. Chem. Educ. 1998 75 1191.
Yindra, L. R.; Kijewski, L.; James, Charles G. Jr. J. Chem. Educ. 2008, 85, 1705. |
