A hydrogen molecule comprises two hydrogen atoms held together by their bond; if the molecule receives enough energy to overcome that bond the molecule will dissociate. The amount of energy needed is called the dissociation energy.

The energy potential can be approximated as an exponential function by the Morse potential energy function V(r) = De(1 − e

−a(r−re)

)

2

, where r is the interatomic distance measured in Å, re is the equilibrium distance between two atoms, De is the dissociation energy, and a is a constant controlling the width of the potential.

Calculate limr→∞ V(r). At sufficiently long distances do the individual atoms of hydrogen possess sufficient energy to dissociate from each other?