Home › Forums › density functional theory › the Born-Oppenheimer approximation › Approximation breakdown This topic has 0 replies, 1 voice, and was last updated 3 days, 8 hours ago by timothe.rhein. Viewing 1 post (of 1 total) Author Posts October 9, 2025 at 3:22 pm #13526 timothe.rheinParticipant This approximation breaks down when the masses are similar. However, when dealing with nuclei and electrons the mass of the electrons will always be negligeable. Author Posts Viewing 1 post (of 1 total) You must be logged in to reply to this topic. Log In Username: Password: Keep me signed in Log In