Degree of freedom of a polyatomic molecule
Note the difference in the degree of freedoms for linear and
nonlinear triatomic molecules. While rotation of a nonlinear triatomic
molecule around three axes gives different configuration, rotastion of a linear
triatomic molecule around the molecular axis does not give a new configuration.
For diatomic molecules, the configurational phase space is limited when two
atoms are the same.
Last modified: Sun July 12 13:02:41 2009