Question

The ordering of the energies of the pi-molecular orbitals of benzene is shown in Fig. 1. Those energies can be approximated by a two-dimensional particle-in-a-box, in which the energy values take a form very similar to those of a one-dimensional box: E_n_x, n_y = n_x^2 + n_y^2) h^2/8mL^2 where n_x and n_y take non-zero integer values. For this model, the first few derived energy levels, indexed by (n_x, n_y) pairs, are diagrammed in Fig. 2. Approximating benzene as a square, 4.00 A per side (A = 10^10 m), containing 6 pi-electrons, calculate the wavelength of the lowest energy electronic transition. Compare your result with the wavelength of the strongest electronic absorption observed for benzene, which occurs at 184 nm.

Answer 1