TABLE OF CONTENTS It will be perfectly clear that in all my studies I was quite convinced of the real existence of molecules, that I never regarded them as a figment of my imagination, nor even as mere centres of force effects. J. D. van der Waals
In this chapter, we present details of interatomic and intermolecular forces and potential energy functions from the point of view of formation and functions of nanostructures. Detailed information about interatomic and intermolecular interactions is necessary for modeling, prediction and simulation of the behavior of assembly of finite number of molecules, which happen to exist in nanosystems. In addition such information will guide the design of positional-assembly and prediction of self-assembly and self-replication which are the fundamentals of bottom-up nanotechnology.
In this chapter, we first introduce a short description of covalent interactions and their differences with non-covalent interactions. Then we will present a detailed analysis of the non-covalent and covalent interactions. This will include experimental and theoretical modeling followed by phenomenological models developed for non-covalent and covalent interactions.
