molecules

[fiveworlds]

How do we distinguish between different molecules of the same element? Secondly what is the mass of tri-atomic hydrogen? Thirdly what is the bond length of tri-atomic hydrogen. Finally what is the effective strength of the nuclear force of the individual nucleons and the average nuclear bond length in femtometers.

Edited October 25, 2014 by fiveworlds

[hypervalent_iodine]

What exactly do you mean by different molecules of the same element? These are two distinct things. Do you mean allotropes?

[Hendrick Laursen]

As hyper says, allotropes are probably what you mean. You could look 'em up in Wikipedia.(Sulfur has some funny Allotropes!)

mass of H₃? I don't think that's quite a stable molecule. It's collapse as fast as being generated.

Wiki says the range is ~0.7-2.5 fm. However 1 fm is the most powerful.

It's force depends on the nuclei involved, their distance and their number. This image will do it:

Force (in units of 10,000 N) between two nucleons that experience the nuclear force, as a function of distance. In the graph that falls below the horizontal axis, the spins of the particles (which must be different, such as a neutron and proton) are aligned, and they become bound with a negative "binding energy," which becomes maximal at a distance a little more than 1 fm at the minimum of the region shown. Particles much closer than this optimal distance experience a repulsive force. Particles farther than the distance of highest attractive force still experience a smaller attractive potential (Yukawa potential), but it falls at an exponential function of distance.

 

 

Courtesy of Wikimedia Foundation Inc, reproduced here regarding Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License;

[Fuzzwood]

I cannot see H₃ exist in any form. The elektrons of each H in H₂ are already used to make the bond between them (a bonding orbital), leaving only an anti-bonding orbital. So even if a hydride (H^-, thus with a fully filled 1s orbital, as you would need to get elektrons from somewhere) would interact with H₂, the bond formed with either or both H₂ hydrogens would end up in the anti-bonding orbital and thus be unstable (as in that it would exist for a neligible amount of time, not that the stuff would explode or be otherwise beneficial energy wise).

[John Cuthber]

Well, it does exist- but not for long.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Triatomic_hydrogen

As far as anyone would be able to measure it, it will have three times the mass of a single hydrogen. There would be a relativistic contribution from the bond energy, but it is tiny- too small to measure.

 

The questions about nuclear forces are in the wrong forum: they are not chemistry.

[swansont]

How do we distinguish between different molecules of the same element?

 

They generally have different chemical properties. e.g. normal oxygen and ozone behave differently. Carbon has a fairly large number of different forms.