Fine-Structure Measurements of Oxygen A Band Absorbance for Estimating the Thermodynamic Average Temperature of the Earth's Atmosphere

摘要

Physical chemistry laboratory students commonly measure the infrared rotation-vibration spectrum of HCl(g),paying attention to the positions of the fine-structure lines to determine the moment of inertia of the molecule.Recently CO_2(g) has been used in a similar experiment to illustrate the effects of the Pauli Principle,one of the few opportunities for undergraduates to directly observe this effect in nature (1).The experiment described below measures the A band transitions of atmospheric oxygen,a rich series of rotation-electronic absorption lines falling in the deep red portion of the optical spectrum and clearly visible owing to attenuation of solar radiation.