Core
Energetics: Enthalpy
Slide 5 of 34
Energy:
Electrostatic Potential Energy
Atoms
or molecules or ions within a substance also possess electrostatic potential
energy again because of the electrostatic force of attraction (bonds)
between them.
(We will have more to say about this when covering
bonding, see Core Bonding: Intermolecular Forces.)
Electrostatic potential energy, Ed,
between two oppositely charged particles, Q1 and Q2, a distance d
apart is given by the following equation:
Between electrons and nuclei, and between atoms or molecules or
ions, the nature
of forces of attraction (and repulsion) are wholly electrostatic.
•So, electrostatic potential energy is the energy in the
substance due to the attractions between the electrons and the nuclei in the atoms, the attraction between the atoms in the molecule and the attraction between the molecules themselves, if the compound is covalent.