2.18 The net potential energy between two adjacent ions, EN, may be represented by the following equation: (1) Calculate the bonding energy E0 in terms of the parameters A, B, and n using the following procedure: 1. Differentiate EN with respect to r, and then set the resulting expression equal to zero, since the curve of EN versus r is a minimum at E0. 2. Solve for r in terms of A, B, and n, which yields r0, the equilibrium interionic spacing. 3. Determine the expression for E0 by substitution of r0 into Equation (1).