ScienceSeptember 3, 2026
interatomic
in-ter-uh-TOM-ik
Definition
Relating to or involving the forces or distances between atoms within a molecule or structure.
Etymology
Derived from the Latin prefix 'inter-' (between) combined with 'atomic', which comes from the Greek 'atomos' (indivisible). It entered English in the 19th century to describe phenomena occurring in the space between atoms.
In the news
In the article, researchers use machine-learned interatomic potentials to simulate the interactions and motions of millions of atoms to study complex material properties. This approach allows them to achieve near quantum-mechanical accuracy in their simulations.
What Can You Do With 50,000 GPUs?
Read the full article ↗USC Viterbi School of Engineering