Bond length

Bond length is the average distance between the nuclei of two bonded atoms. It depends on the atoms, their bonding, and their chemical environment.

Potential energy surface: A function describing a system’s potential energy as its atoms’ positions change. Bond length corresponds to a low-energy separation along the nuclear coordinate.
Chemical bond: A stable interaction that holds atoms or ions together in a substance. Bond length describes the spatial separation within this interaction.
Molecular geometry: The three-dimensional arrangement of atoms in a molecule. Bond lengths are core measurements used to specify molecular geometry.
Bond angle: The angle formed by three atoms connected in a molecular structure. It measures molecular direction, whereas bond length measures separation.
Bond order: A measure of the number and strength of bonds between two atoms. Greater bond order generally corresponds to shorter equilibrium bond lengths.
Equilibrium geometry: The arrangement of nuclei at a molecule’s minimum potential energy. Its internuclear separations define equilibrium bond lengths.
Electron diffraction: A technique that infers atomic structure from the diffraction of electrons by matter. Gas-phase diffraction can determine average molecular bond lengths.
Bond dissociation energy: The energy required to break a specified chemical bond homolytically. It measures bond-breaking energy, not the distance between nuclei.
Covalent radius: A measure of an atom’s effective size in a covalent bond, inferred from interatomic distances. The radii of two bonded atoms provide a rough estimate of their bond length.
Internuclear distance: The distance between the nuclei of two atoms. Bond length is an average or equilibrium value of this distance for bonded atoms.

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