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Stark Effects on Rigid-Rotor Wavefunctions: A Quantum Description of Dipolar Rotors Trapped in Electric Fields as Pendulum Oscillators

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Giles Henderson and Brad Logsdon

Eastern Illinois University, Charleston, IL 61920

J. Chem. Educ., 1995, 72 (11), p 1021

DOI: 10.1021/ed072p1021

Publication Date: November 1995

Abstract

Chemists have had few opportunities to study the effects of molecular orientations on reactions. At ordinary temperatures, it is impractical to orient gas phase molecules with electric fields because their rotational kinetic energies are large compared to the interaction energy of molecular dipoles with accessible laboratory fields. This study uses a variational matrix method and computer graphics to illustrate how orientational probability of molecules cooled by supersonic expansions are dramatically influenced by electric fields. These calculations reveal how free rotor wavefunctions evolve into harmonic oscillator type functions as dipolar molecules become trapped by the laboratory field as Stark pendulum oscillators. A supplement to this article that includes computer animated descriptions of the molecular motions described here are available at JCE Internet.