well depth

mather

hello!

what is actually the "well depth" or the "depth of the well" ?

maybe it doesnt help that english is not my native language, but anyway, I cant find some reference

I found the term to be used in context of describing the energy of the bonds

thanks!

Pkruse

I can't way for sure without knowing the context, but a well is a hole in the ground from which you draw or pump water. But it could mean something else in another context.

marty1

Sounds like your are talking about the energy well that exist in a tiny region of space surrounded by regions of higher potential energy. A place that a particle gets stuck because it needs kenetic energy to escape. Which is suppose described a hole in the ground as well.

mather

in Lenard-Jones potential ?

chill_factor

Pick up a book in quantum mechanics, it will explain everything much better than we can.

Einstein Mcfly

In a graph of energy versus position, there can be a region of space where the energy is lower than other nearby regions. Graphically, this looks like a hole in the ground and if you want to picture things classically you can think about an electron being a ball trapped in the hole (an electron in a bond, say) that needs some energy put into it to get it out of the hole (break the bond). The deeper the well, the stronger the bond.