Binding energy definition

The results for thrombin show that our previous parametrization of the LIE coefficients holds rather well in this case, provided that a constant term of -2.9 kcal/mol is added. At present it is not clear to us why thrombin would require such a constant term while, e.g., trypsin does not, but this issue is currently under investigation (see also Ref. 47 for a discussion of thrombin versus trypsin). Furthermore, one should note that with our computational procedures and the Gromos87 force field the results for thrombin inhibitors differ from those of Ref. 35 as well as Ref. 43. That is to say, three independent studies involving thrombin inhibitors have arrived at significantly different parametrizations of the LIE equation, that in all cases reproduce the experimental data well. It therefore seems clear that the differences in the computational procedures have a definite effect on the parameters of the binding energy approximation. 

Some explicit definitions for the binding energies of particles are the following ... 

It has been mentioned that the region occupied by the electron s orbit increases in volume, as the binding energy becomes less or as the quantum number n increases. For our later use in studying the sizes of atoms, it is useful to know the size of the orbit quantitatively. These sizes are not definitely determined, for the electron is sometimes found at one point, sometimes at another, in a given stationary state, and all we can give is the distance from the nucleus at which there is the greatest... 

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