A technique for chemical analysis and the determination of structure. It is based on the principles that molecular vibrations occur in the infrared region of the electromagnetic spectrum and functional groups have characteristic absorption frequencies. The frequencies of most interest range from 2.5 to 16 μm‎; however, in IR spectroscopy it is common to use the reciprocal of the wavelength, and thus this range becomes 4000–625 cm⁻¹. Examples of typical vibrations are centred on 2900 cm⁻¹ for C-H stretching in alkanes, 1600 cm⁻¹ for N-H stretching in amino groups, and 2200 cm⁻¹ for C≡C stretching in alkynes. In an IR spectrometer there is a source of IR light, covering the whole frequency range of the instrument, which is split into two beams of equal intensity. One beam is passed through the sample and the other is used as a reference against which the first is then compared. The spectrum is usually obtained as a chart showing absorption peaks, plotted against wavelength or frequency. The sample can be a gas, liquid, or solid. See also Fourier-transform infrared.