The net potential energy between two adjacent ions, EN, may be represented by the sum of Equations 2.9 and 2.11; that is,
Calculate the bonding energy E0 in terms of the parameters A, B, and n using the following procedure:
1. Differentiate EN with respect to r, and then set the resulting expression equal to zero, because the curve of EN versus r is a minimum at E0.
2. Solve for r in terms of A, B, and n, which yields r0, the equilibrium interionic spacing.
3. Determine the expression for E0 by substituting r0 into Equation 2.17.