text: Because the structure of the transition state is a first-order saddle point along a potential energy surface, the population of species in a reaction that are at the transition state is negligible. Since being at a saddle point along the potential energy surface means that a force is acting along the bonds to the molecule, there will always be a lower energy structure that the transition state can decompose into. This is sometimes expressed by stating that the transition state has a fleeting existence, with species only maintaining the transition state structure for the time-scale of vibrations of chemical bonds (femtoseconds). However, cleverly manipulated spectroscopic techniques can get us as close as the timescale of the technique allows. Femtochemical IR spectroscopy was developed for that reason, and it is possible to probe molecular structure extremely close to the transition point. Often, along the reaction coordinate, reactive intermediates are present not much lower in energy from a transition state making it difficult to distinguish between the two.