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.

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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

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