The structure and activation of the phosgene molecule. Part I.—General introduction—Predissociation of molecules

Abstract

The study of diatomic molecules is already very advanced. By applying the principles of wave mechanics a number of authors, especially Hund, Heitler, London, Mulliken, Herzberg, Wigner and Witmer, have developed the theory of the conditions of formation, of electronic activation, and of different types of dissociation of diatomic molecules. They have also established relations between the electronic terms of atoms and those of related molecules, and have thus succeeded in arranging the terms of molecular spectra in a manner analogous to that for atomic spectra. The experimental researches during recent years of Mulliken, Mecke, Hund, Diecke, Franck and his school, Hulthen, Birge, Hopfield, Richardson, Curtis, Johnson, Herzberg and many others have established a very exact knowledge of the structure of spectra of diatomic molecules.