Document Type

Thesis - Open Access

Award Date

1964

Degree Name

Master of Science (MS)

Department / School

Physics

Abstract

A study of electrons in molecules is guided by the results of experiments in x-ray diffraction and molecular spectroscopy. From the symmetry existing in most molecules and a convenient set of atomic orbitals as basic functions, group theoretical calculations yield linear combination of atomic orbitals as molecular orbitals. The above technique has been very successful thus far in explaining such experimental results. This group theoretical approach is applied in the work reported here to the Rh 6(CO)16molecule observed by two Wisconsin chemists. In explaining the bonding of this molecule, two different approaches using different sets of hybrid orbitals were attempted. When group theory fails to eliminate the necessity of solving a determinant of order greater than two, it is convenient to find the interaction terms of the determinant and let a computer find the several roots required. A program designed to find these roots is also presented in this paper.

Library of Congress Subject Headings

Molecular orbitals
Group Theory

Description

Includes bibliographical references

Format

application/pdf

Number of Pages

51

Publisher

South Dakota State University

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