Morse potential

https://doi.org/10.1351/goldbook.MT07073
The empirical function relating the potential energy of a molecule to the inter-atomic distance r accounting for the anharmonicity of bond stretching: E(r)=De (1−e−a (r−re))2 where De is the bond-dissociation energy, re is the equilibrium bond length, and a is a parameter characteristic of a given molecule.
See: harmonic approximation
Source:
PAC, 1999, 71, 1919. (Glossary of terms used in theoretical organic chemistry) on page 1953 [Terms] [Paper]
Citation: 'Morse potential' in IUPAC Compendium of Chemical Terminology, 5th ed. International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry; 2025. Online version 5.0.0, 2025. https://doi.org/10.1351/goldbook.MT07073 RIS BibTex EndNote
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Last revised: February 24, 2014