We provide a physical interpretation of the Kirchhoff index of any molecules as well as of the Wiener index of acyclic ones. For the purpose, we use a local vertex invariant that is obtained from first principles and describes the atomic displacements due to small vibrations/oscillations of atoms from their equilibrium positions. In addition, we show that the topological atomic displacements correlate with the temperature factors (B-factors) of atoms obtained by X-ray crystallography for both organic molecules and biological macromolecules. (C) 2009 Elsevier B. V. All rights reserved.