1. Nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy detects the absorption of radio waves by atomic nuclei placed in a strong magnetic field.
2. In NMR, atomic nuclei such as 1H and 13C behave as tiny magnets that can be oriented parallel or anti-parallel to an external magnetic field.
3. The frequency at which nuclei absorb radio waves depends on the strength of the magnetic field and on nearby electron densities, allowing NMR to provide details of molecular structure.