CHEM 31X: Accelerated Chemical Principles

Moerner/Cox

Autumn 2016
Problem Set #1

The assignment is due at 5 pm on October 7, 2016 in the 31X homework

box located on the second floor of Mudd chemistry (across from Mudd 287).
Solutions can be handwritten neatly in the space provided within the
problem setadditional pages should not be attached. Answers should be
rounded to 3-4 significant figures and all work should be shown. Students
can work together on problem sets, but the final answers submitted should
reflect your understanding of the concepts and should be written in your
own words.

Name ____________________

T.A. ___________________

1.] A chemist wants to determine the surface spacing of a crystal lattice using neutron
scattering. Neutrons are directed at the surface of the crystal, and then the angle of
diffraction is determined, which in turn yields the lattice spacing. Generally, to get good
diffraction, a wavelength is used that is somewhat greater than the lattice spacing. It is
thought that the lattice spacing is 0.400 nm so a neutron wavelength of 1.200 nm is
used in the experiment. The error in determining the lattice spacing is linear in the error
in the neutron momentum. After eliminating controllable experimental errors, the
chemist wants to have the error in the lattice spacing be 1%. To have this error, what is
the spatial extent (width) of the incoming neutron Gaussian wave packets?

2.] Organic chemistry is the study of carbon-containing compounds and provides a rich
array of millions of molecules which often have the same molecular formula and/or the
same molecular weight. A student is working in the organic laboratory and notices an
unlabeled bottle on the shelf. This is extremely bad given that each organic molecule
has very different properties and hazards. The student runs the molecule through the
mass spec instrument in the lab and observes the following peaks:

M peak
M+1 peak

m/z
54
55

Intensity
100%
3.3%

The student decided that the structure is:

Determine whether this is a correct structural assignment. Provide rationale for your
answer using calculations.

3.] The power output of a laser is measured by its wattage, the number of joules of
energy it radiates per second (1 watt = 1 J/s). A 14-watt Nd:YAG laser produces a
beam of green light with a wavelength of 532 nm.
(a) Calculate the energy carried by each photon.

(b) Calculate the number of photons emitted by the laser per second.

4.] It takes 208.4 kJ of energy to remove one mole of electrons from the atoms on the
surface of rubidium metal. If rubidium metal is irradiated with 254-nm light, calculate
the amount of time needed before a sensor 2.2 m begins to detect the electrons.

5.] An argon-ion laser emits light of wavelength 488 nm.

(a) Calculate the frequency of the light

(b) Suppose that a pulse of light from this laser is sent from earth, is reflected from a
retroreflector mirror on the moon, and returns to its starting point. (Some of these
mirrors were placed on the moon by the Apollo astronauts.) Calculate the time elapsed
for the round trip, taking the distance from the earth to the moon to be 3.8 x 105 km.

6.]

Calculate the de Broglie wavelength of the following:

(a) An electron that has been accelerated to a kinetic energy equivalent to 1.20 107 J.

(b) A helium atom moving at a speed of 353 m /s. This is the root-mean-square speed
of helium atoms in gaseous helium at 20 K.

(c) A krypton atom moving at a speed of 299 m/s. This is the root-mean-square speed
of krypton atoms in gaseous krypton at 300 K.

7.] The vast stretches of space between the stars are by no means empty. They contain
both gases and dust particles at very low concentrations. These low-density species can
significantly affect the electromagnetic radiation that telescopes detect arriving from
distant stars and other sources. The gas in interstellar space consists primarily of
hydrogen (either neutral or ionized) at a concentration on the order of one atom per
cubic centimeter. The dust (thought to be mostly solid water, methane, or ammonia) is
even less concentrated, with typically only a few dust particles with a radius of 10-4 or
10-5 cm per cubic kilometer.
(a) The hydrogen in interstellar space near a star is largely ionized by the high-energy
photons from the star. Such regions are called "H II regions." Calculate the longest
wavelength of light that ionizes a ground-state hydrogen atom.

(b) Suppose a ground-state hydrogen atom absorbs a photon with a wavelength of 65

nm. Calculate the kinetic energy of the electron ejected. (Note: This is the gas- phase
analog of the photoelectric effect for solids.

(c) What is the de Broglie wavelength of the electron from part (b)?

(d) Calculate the wavelength of light emitted as an electron in a hydrogen atom

undergoes a transition from level n = 110 to n = 109. In what region of the
electromagnetic spectrum does this lie?

8.] Calculate the wavelength of energy emitted if Li2+ relaxes from n = 4 to n=1.