INTER-DEPARTMENT COMMUNICATION

CALIFORNIA INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY SEP 19 1946 REC'D

PASADENA

DATE September 19, 1956 [sic]

TO Dr. Linus Pauling

FROM R. M. Badger

SUBJECTInternuclear distances

With one possible exception the internuclear distances given by Herzberg for CaO, BaO, ZrO and CaCl are quite impossible.

The distance for CaO in the lowest observed state (1.75A) is in good agreement with the vibrational frequency. There is, however, no definite assurance that this state is the ground state.

In the other cases I have made rough estimates of distance from the vibrational frequency, as follows:

re (A)

BaO (2.02) ---- low for Ba-O = 2.64

ZrO 1.76 OK for Zn-O = 2.11 (Triple bond

CaCl 2.10 (probably not very accurate) low

VO (1.65) OK for V-O = 1.88

The numbers in parentheses correspond to the lowest observed state, which is not necessarily the ground state In the other cases the ground state is said to be definitely known. The estimated distances may be good to ± 0.02 A.

R.M.B.

If the distance for PbO is correct it seems to me that the distance for SnO is a trifle large, perhaps by 0.03 Å.