CONDENSED-MATTER ENERGETICS FROM DIATOMIC MOLECULAR-SPECTRA

Analyses of molecular spectra and compression data from crystals show that a single function successfully describes the dependence on intera tomic separation of both the potential energy of diatomic molecules an d the cohesive binding energy of condensed matter. The empirical findi ng that one function describes interatomic energies for such diverse f orms of matter and over a wide range of conditions can be used to exte nd condensed-matter equations of state but warrants further theoretica l study.