Chemical bonds can be thought of as springs holding together the atoms in a bond. When atoms in a bond are stretched or compressed from their equilibrium separation, the bond provides a force to pull the atoms back together or to keep them from getting too close. For relatively small displacements, the bond actually provides a force that is physically very similar to that of a spring connecting two objects. This model of a spring as a chemical bond can be very useful for getting an intuitive idea of how a chemical bond connects atoms in a molecule.