Franck-Condon principle

created by Halcyon&on

(thing) by Halcyon&on (2.8 y) (print) ? 1 C! I like it! Fri Jun 09 2000 at 5:33:31

The idea that an electronic transition occurs much faster than nuclear motion. For example, if you hit a molecule with a photon, driving it into the excited state, the electrons will rearrange their distribution in the orbitals without the nuclei having a chance to rearrange themselves. The resulting system is often not in equilibrium, and depending on the lifetime of the excited state, the nuclei may then rearrange (slightly) to accomodate the new electron distribution.

(thing) by thornton (1.8 mon) (print) ? I like it! Sat Feb 17 2001 at 4:26:31

The description above seems more applicable to the Born-Oppenheimer approximation than to the Franck-Condon principle, although it is true that the Born-Oppenheimer approximation must apply for Franck-Condon factors to be calculated.

Franck-Condon factors give a quantitative value for the overlap between two vibrational states of an atom or molecule.

printable version
chaos

excited state	excimer	Forster Resonance Energy Transfer	Transition
electron	exciplex	photon	nucleus
solvation dynamics	Modern Library's 100 Best Books: Fiction	Robert J. Sawyer	molecule

Y'know, if you log in, you can write something here, or contact authors directly on the site. Create a New User if you don't already have an account.

Login
Password

remember me
password reminder
register

Everything2 Help

Little presents from the Node Fairy:
The Lonely Gardener
Front porch ballroom
Thai
The Everything Editor's Job
Imperial Beach Radio Receiving Facility
Onigiri
Using Pavlovian Theory to classically condition inanimate objects
Pinkerton
Theory of flight
Walter Matthau
t.A.T.u.
The Orders of Roman Architecture
Mahabharata

shaogo
Phonautogram	(thing)
Morkel
Changing your sexuality	(idea)
teleny
Baron Samedi	(person)
Ouzo
The Great Barbershop Race Wars	(log)
Mannerisky
second language	(essay)
aneurin
British Monomarks	(idea)
FrankThomas
How and why do we (humans) have culture?	(essay)
lee_cad
Isaac	(person)
kalen
downvota	(poetry)
Andrew Aguecheek
Wstfgl	(thing)
ncc05
overheard at IHOP	(event)
calgon
Bottomless	(poetry)
lismaraxt
Ice Theory of The Origin of Life	(idea)
allthetime
Apple Cinnamon Suicide	(idea)
Lucy-S
shovelglove	(idea)

Everything 2 is brought to you by the letter C and The Everything Development Company