Preferred Label : least motion, principle of;
IUPAC definition : The statement that those elementary reactions are the most favoured which exhibit
the fewest possible alterations in the positions of the atomic nuclei and in the electronic
configuration. The most frequently used mathematical formulation of the principle
rests on a mechanical model of a molecule in which the energy of structural deformation,
when reactants (r) turn into products (p), is assumed to be proportional to the sum
of the squares of the changes in the positions of the nuclei common to both reactants
and products \[E \sum _{\begin{array}{c};
Origin ID : LT07064;
See also
The statement that those elementary reactions are the most favoured which exhibit
the fewest possible alterations in the positions of the atomic nuclei and in the electronic
configuration. The most frequently used mathematical formulation of the principle
rests on a mechanical model of a molecule in which the energy of structural deformation,
when reactants (r) turn into products (p), is assumed to be proportional to the sum
of the squares of the changes in the positions of the nuclei common to both reactants
and products \[E \sum _{\begin{array}{c}