Abstract
FROM a consideration of the infra-red absorption data, Dennison1 assigned 1304, 1520, 3019, and 4217 as the fundamental frequencies of the methane molecule, the highest, 4217, representing a symmetric expansion of the tetrahedron. In the Raman spectrum of methane, however, 4217 fails to appear, and we have instead a frequency 2918 recorded as an intense and sharp line, which is inactive in infra-red absorption and is therefore to be identified with a symmetric oscillation of the tetrahedron. I have accordingly suggested in a recent paper2 that the fundamental frequencies of methane are 1304, 1520, 2918, and 3019, the frequency 4217 being merely a combination of the first and the third fundamentals.
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References
Astrophys. J., 62, 84; 1925.
Ind. J. Phys., 6, 595; 1931.
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BHAGAVANTAM, S. Oscillations of the Methane Molecule. Nature 129, 830 (1932). https://doi.org/10.1038/129830b0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/129830b0
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