Hey. Thanks to you both. Now, as you suspected, my question originates from attempting to understand exactly what IR spectroscopy is based on. I realized that the absorption rate and frequency would be unique for certain sructures, and therefore the method can be used as detection. But what I was not sure about was what happens on the more basic level.
And now I believe, if I am not mistaken, that when the dipole receives the photon, it receives energy. Then it compensate the energy overload with either streching or bending. These compensate for the energy load because the atoms move to positions that that would not otherwise be energy favourable? Is this it?
How does one calculate the amout of energy? For instance, if my sample is anhydrous hydrochloric acid (a dipole) and it is bombed with IR. The diatomic HCl can be considered a harmonic oscillator, as mentioned above, and the potential energy depends on the distance of the poles. These then can change either beause of geometrical (bending) reasons or because of the streching (distance). Shoud it not be calculable then?