Was Franck's work on photochemistry important?
Yes, my work extended significantly into photochemistry. After the initial confirmations of quantum theory through our electron collision experiments, I became deeply interested in how light interacts with matter. Let us first observe what nature tells us. We investigated how absorbed light energy leads to chemical reactions. The Franck-Condon principle, which I developed, describes how electronic transitions in molecules occur so rapidly that the nuclei of the atoms do not have time to move. The evidence suggests this principle is fundamental to understanding the dynamics of photochemical processes, explaining why certain transitions are more probable than others.
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