Yale University Organic Chemistry Course, Lecture 3
Course
ORGANIC CHEMISTRY
This is the first semester in a two-semester introductory course focused on current theories of structure and mechanism in organic chemistry, their historical development, and their basis in experimental observation. The course is open to freshmen with excellent preparation in chemistry and physics, and it aims to develop both taste for original science and intellectual skills necessary for creative research.
LECTURE 3: «Double Minima, Earnshaw’s Theorem, and Plum-Puddings»
Continuing the discussion of Lewis structures and chemical forces from the previous lecture, Professor McBride introduces the double-well potential of the ozone molecule and its structural equilibrium. The inability for inverse-square force laws to account for stable arrangements of charged particles is prescribed by Earnshaw’s Theorem, which may be visualized by means of lines of force. J.J. Thomson circumvented Earnshaw’s prohibition on structure by postulating a «plum-pudding» atom. When Rutherford showed that the nucleus was a point, Thomson had to conclude that Coulomb’s law was invalid at small distances.
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