Golden Sections of Interatomic Distances as Exact Ionic Radii and Additivity of Atomic and Ionic Radii in Chemical Bonds

TL;DR

This paper explores the connection between the Golden ratio and interatomic distances, proposing that these ratios define ionic radii and support the additivity of atomic and ionic radii in chemical bonds.

Contribution

It introduces a novel approach linking the Golden ratio to ionic radii and demonstrates their applicability in explaining bond lengths in various hydrides.

Findings

Golden ratio appears in hydrogen atom geometry.

Ionic radii based on Golden sections explain bond lengths.

Additivity of atomic and ionic radii is supported by these findings.

Abstract

The Golden ratio which appears in the geometry of a variety of creations in Nature is found to arise right in the Bohr radius of the hydrogen atom due to the opposite charges of the electron and proton. The bond length of the hydrogen molecule is the diagonal of a square on the Bohr radius and hence also has two Golden sections, which form the cationic and anionic radii of hydrogen. It is shown here that these radii account for the bond lengths of many hydrides when added to the atomic and Golden ratio based ionic radii of many other atoms.