ABSTRACT
The analysis of atomic spectra (see Topics G5 and G7) yields information about the electronic structure of the atom. Molecules also possess energy due to rotation and to the vibration of the bonds between the atoms, so molecular spectra are more complicated, since they include rotational and vibrational transitions as well as electronic transitions. However, the analysis of molecular spectra provides a wealth of information on molecular energy levels, bond lengths, bond angles and bond strengths. The characteristic spectral frequencies associated with particular atoms and molecules also means that spectroscopy is widely used for identification of species and monitoring of specific reactants or products in, for example, kinetic measurements (see Topic F1).
