Infra-red spectroscopy. Part I

At the end of this activity, students should be able to:
– use information from chemical tests to determine the structure of an organic compound
– describe electromagnetic radiation in terms of wavelength, frequency, energy of photons and wavenumber
– explain the general concept of spectroscopy
– define the infra–red region used in spectroscopy
– explain why organic compounds absorb infra–red radiation
– state the relationship between the frequency of bond vibration and the frequency of absorbed radiation
– discuss the factors affecting the frequency of bond vibration and the modes of bond vibration
– describe recording of an infra–red spectrum, construction of the spectrometer and sample handling.