vibrational quantum number

vibrational quantum number

[vī′brā·shən·əl ′kwän·təm ‚nəm·bər] (physical chemistry) A quantum number v characterizing the vibrational motion of nuclei in a molecule; in the approximation that the molecule behaves as a quantum-mechanical harmonic oscillator, the vibrational energy is h (v + ½)ƒ, where h is Planck's constant and ƒ is the vibration frequency.