Lennard–Jones Force and Well

The Lennard-Jones potential models intermolecular interactions, featuring a steep repulsive core and a longer-ranged attractive tail. The balance of these two terms creates a potential well that determines the equilibrium separation of two molecules.

Exploring the interaction

You can use the interactive module to see how the separation distance and scale parameters affect the potential energy and radial force.

1. Open the Lennard–Jones Force and Well interactive module. The simulation starts at the Minimum separation.
2. Notice the interacting pair shown at the top, and the corresponding point on the potential and force curves.
3. Change the Separation to "Zero crossing". Observe that the potential becomes zero, but the force shoots up to a positive value, indicating a strong repulsion.
4. Change the Separation to "Attractive". The potential rises slightly, and the force becomes negative, indicating an attractive pull trying to restore the particles to their minimum separation.
5. Adjust the Energy scale and Length scale to see how the well's depth and position change, and verify how the computed outputs respond.

Open Lennard–Jones Force and Well