The Timestep

Each time the force on each atom is calculated, the equations of motion are integrated for each atom. This integration is discrete, that is, it advances the state of the system forward in time by some small amount. That amount is called the timestep. Once the atoms are moved, the whole process starts over again. The forces are re-computed, and the system is advanced by the same small timestep.

David Wolff

Last modified: Wed Sep 2 11:23:52 PDT 1998