An Experimental Study of Collision Broadening of some Excited Rotational States of the Bending Vibration of Methyl Cyanide

• Main Author: Hajsaleh, Jamal Y. (Jamal Yousef)
• Other Authors: Roberts, James Andrew
• Format: Others
• Language: English
• Published: University of North Texas 1993
• Subjects: methyl cyanide; physics; molecular rotation; Molecular rotation.; Methyl cyanide > Spectra.; Microwave spectroscopy.
• Online Access: https://digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc278369/

A double modulation microwave spectrometer is used to evaluate the linewidth parameters for some excited rotational components in the bending vibration v_8 of 13CH3 13C 15N and 13CH3C15N isotopomers of methyl cyanide. The linewidth parameters for self-broadening of the ΔJ=2←1 rotational components for the ground v_8 , 1v_8, and the 2v_8 vibrations were determined over a pressure range of 1 to 13 mtorr and at a temperature of 300 K. The double modulation technique is used to explore the high eighth derivative of the line shape profile of the spectral line. This technique proved to give good signal-to-noise ratios and enabled the recovery of weak signals. An experimental method is developed to correct for source modulation broadening. The tests of the ratios of the two inner peak's separation of the eighth derivative of the line showed that they were up to 95% similar to those for a Lorentzian line shape function. The line shapes were assumed to be Lorentzian for the theoretical analysis of the derivative profiles and comparisons were made between experiment and theory on this basis. Dipole moments for vibrationally excited states were calculated from linewidth parameters and show systematic decrease with the increase of excitation. Impact parameters were calculated using the "hard sphere" model of the kinetic theory of gases. The results were many times larger than the size of the molecule itself. This suggests that the dominant interaction is a long range dipole-dipole force interaction.