The Morse Potential

Abstract

In a paper published in July 1929 Philip Morse [38] used the potential

$$ V(r) = De^{ - 2a(r - r_0 )} - 2De^{ - a(r - r_0 )} $$

to model the vibrational energy of a diatomic molecule, where r is the bond length, r₀ the equilibrium bond length, a a parameter controlling the potential width, and D the dissociation energy of the molecule measured from the potential minimum.