How to interpret this formula about hydrogen bond energy I want to evaluate some chemistry related formulas, which I don't understand.
In proteins, hydrogen bonding often occurs between the oxo group = O oxygen of one amino acid and the α-amino group (N − H) of another amino acid.
The bond energy is determined by the distance between oxygen and hydrogen and by the angle enclosed by the N-H and H-Bonds.
Let's assume the $E = (\frac{1}{d_{HO}^{10}} - \frac{1}{d_{HO}^{12}}) * cos(\alpha)$ model describes the energy of the hydrogen bond.
What is the meaning of the number 10 and 12 in the formula?

I know the angle and the distances between one O, one H and one N atom (that's all the input we got).
maybe related:
https://www.sciencedirect.com/topics/biochemistry-genetics-and-molecular-biology/hydrogen-bond
These exponents $10$ and $12$ are a little bit arbitrary. They have been chosen so as to obtain an energy curve corresponding to the measured H-bond energies. Other attempts have been published, like the famous Morse curve, which is, for covalent bonds versus HO distance $d$ :  $$E(d) = D[1 - e^{-k(d - d_o)}]^2$$ where $D$ is the dissociation energy of the covalent H-O bond. Apparently the curve with the two exponents $10$ and $12$ gives a better fit.