The Structure Of The Hydrogen Molecule Ion

618 CHEMISTR Y: H. C. URE Y .PRoe. N. A. S. 11 G. Goudsmit and R. de L. Kronig, Versi. Akad. Amsterdam, 34, no. 2; also R. de L. Kronig, Zs. Physik, 31, 885 (1925). 12 H. N. Russell, Proc. Nat. Acad. Sci., 11, 314 (1925), especially p. 319. 18 N. Bohr, The Quantum Theory of Line Spectra, Copenhagen, p. 85; Zs. Physik, 13, 149 (1923); Die Naturwissenschaften, 12, 1115 (1924). 14 W. Heisenberg, Zs. Physik, 31, 617 (1925). 15 J. A. Eldridge, Physic. Rev., 24, 234 (1924). 16 Hanle also predicts an angle of 54.7°, but it is not clear whether he uses the classical or quantum view-point. 17 W. Hanle, Zs. Physik, 30, 93 (1924). 18 For greater detail see Gaviola and Pringsheim,4 p. 372, ff., or Breit,2 p. 835. 19 L. S. Orstein, H. C. Burger and W. C. van Geel, Zs. Physik, 32, 681 (1925). "' The writer is unable to agree with a statement made by Ellett8 that according to the quantum theory we may likely expect zero polarization in case (d). 21 Cf. Gaviola and Pringsheim,4 p. 372. THE STRUCTURE OF THE HYDROGEN MOLECULE ION By H. C. UREy DSPARTM5NT OP CHEMISTRY, JoHNs HOPKINS UNIVsRSiTY Read before the Academy April 27, 1925 If the condition of dynamic stability is ignored, the steady state of lowest-energy of the hydrogen molecule ion should be that in which the electron vibrates in a straight line perpendicular to the line joining the nuclei and through the middle point of this line. The energy of this steady state has been calculated using the following assumptions: the inverse square law of force is assumed to hold between the'electron and the positive nuclei, the motion of the electron is described by classical mechanics and the steady states fixed by the Wilson-Sommerfeld quantum conditions, and finally the mean value of the component of the force of attraction between the electron and one nucleus is set equal to the force of repulsion between the tw