= John Lennard-Jones
{c}
{tag=Physicist}
{wiki}
<John Lennard-Jones> used gas-transport measurements to constrain models of intermolecular forces. His 1924 work connects the <temperature> dependence of viscosity with an assumed force law. The familiar modern <Lennard-Jones potential> represents short-range repulsion and longer-range attraction as $V(r)=4\epsilon[(\sigma/r)^{12}-(\sigma/r)^6]$. Its minimum at $r=2^{1/6}\sigma$ has depth $\epsilon$, making the two parameters physically interpretable. This 12–6 form is a simplified interaction model, rather than an exact force law for every atom pair.<On the determination of molecular fields. I. From the variation of the viscosity of a gas with temperature by John Lennard-Jones>[Proceedings of the Royal Society A 106, 441–462 (1924); potential written in its familiar modern form]{ref}
A <physicist> associated with the <Lennard-Jones potential>.
\Image[https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/fb/Lennard-jones.jpg]
{title=Portrait of <John Lennard-Jones>}
{description=Computer Laboratory, University of Cambridge. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/[CC BY 2.0].}
{source=https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Lennard-jones.jpg}
{width=250}
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