Wavenumbers (Paperback)

Please note that the content of this book primarily consists of articles available from Wikipedia or other free sources online. In the physical sciences, the wavenumber is a property of a wave that is proportional to the reciprocal of the wavelength. It can be defined as either the number of wavelengths per unit distance, that is, 1 / where is the wavelength, or alternatively as 2 /, sometimes termed the angular wavenumber or circular wavenumber or - most often - simply wavenumber.For electromagnetic radiation, wavenumber is proportional to frequency and to photon energy. Because of this, wavenumbers are used as a unit of energy in spectroscopy. In the SI units, wavenumber is expressed in units of reciprocal meters (m 1), but in spectroscopy it is usual to give wavenumbers in reciprocal centimeters (cm 1). The angular wavenumber is expressed in radians per meter (rad m 1).