Monday, May 18, 2015

quantum mechanics - Why does a system try to minimize its total energy?


Why does a system like to minimize its total energy? For example, the total energy of a $H_2$ molecule is smaller than the that of two two isolated hydrogen atoms and that is why two $H$ atoms try to form a covalent bond. According to the classical mechanics, it is the potential energy of a conservative system that is minimum in equilibrium, not the total energy.




No comments:

Post a Comment