Tersoff potential

Bond order potential is a class of empirical (analytical) interatomic potentials which is used in

molecular dynamics Molecular dynamics (MD) is a computer simulation method for analyzing the physical movements of atoms and molecules. The atoms and molecules are allowed to interact for a fixed period of time, giving a view of the dynamic "evolution" of th ...

and

molecular A molecule is a group of two or more atoms held together by attractive forces known as chemical bonds; depending on context, the term may or may not include ions which satisfy this criterion. In quantum physics, organic chemistry, and bioch ...

statics simulations. Examples include the Tersoff

potential Potential generally refers to a currently unrealized ability. The term is used in a wide variety of fields, from physics to the social sciences to indicate things that are in a state where they are able to change in ways ranging from the simple r ...

, the EDIP potential, the Brenner potential, the Finnis–Sinclair potentials, ReaxFF, and the second-moment tight-binding potentials. They have the advantage over conventional

molecular mechanics Molecular mechanics uses classical mechanics to model molecular systems. The Born–Oppenheimer approximation is assumed valid and the potential energy of all systems is calculated as a function of the nuclear coordinates using force fields. Mo ...

force fields Force field may refer to: Science * Force field (chemistry), a set of parameter and equations for use in molecular mechanics simulations * Force field (physics), a vector field indicating the forces exerted by one object on another * Force field ( ...

in that they can, with the same parameters, describe several different bonding states of an

atom Every atom is composed of a nucleus and one or more electrons bound to the nucleus. The nucleus is made of one or more protons and a number of neutrons. Only the most common variety of hydrogen has no neutrons. Every solid, liquid, gas ...

, and thus to some extent may be able to describe

chemical reaction A chemical reaction is a process that leads to the chemical transformation of one set of chemical substances to another. Classically, chemical reactions