Estimation of Lamb-shift effects for molecules:: Application to the rotation-vibration spectra of water -: art. no. 024502

A simple approach is presented for approximating Lamb shifts, the leading quantum electrodynamical (QED) effects, in molecules containing light elements. The Lamb-shift contributions to the electronic energies are estimated from scaled nuclear and electronic Darwin terms. QED effects on the rovibrational states of water are found to be significantly larger than current experimental uncertainties, and only one order of magnitude smaller than current computational uncertainties.