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Do molecules have structure in isolation? How models can provide the answer

Seifert, Vanessa A. (2021) Do molecules have structure in isolation? How models can provide the answer. [Preprint]

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Abstract

I argue that molecules may not have structure in isolation. I support this by investigating how quantum models identify structure for isolated molecules. Specifically, I distinguish between two sets of models: those that identify structure in isolation and those that do not. The former identify structure because they presuppose structural information about the target system via the Born Oppenheimer approximation. However, it is an idealisation to assume structure in isolation because there is no empirical evidence of this. In fact, whenever structure is empirically examined it is always partially determined by factors that are absent in isolation. Together with the growing empirical evidence that isolated molecules behave in non-classical ways, this shows that the quantum models that do not identify structure are more faithful representations of isolated molecules.


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Item Type: Preprint
Creators:
CreatorsEmailORCID
Seifert, Vanessa A.vs14902@bristol.ac.uk0000-0002-5391-0791
Additional Information: Preprint of book chapter In Book: Philosophical Perspectives on Quantum Chemistry, ed. by Olimpia Lombardi, Sebastian Fortin, and Juan Camilo Martínez González (Synthese Library, Springer)
Keywords: Models; Idealisations; Molecular Structure; Isolation;Quantum mechanics
Subjects: General Issues > Models and Idealization
Depositing User: Dr. Vanessa A. Seifert
Date Deposited: 20 Jun 2021 04:12
Last Modified: 20 Jun 2021 04:12
Item ID: 19202
Subjects: General Issues > Models and Idealization
Date: 2021
URI: https://philsci-archive.pitt.edu/id/eprint/19202

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