  We report first-principles calculations of the inelastic current-voltage
(I-V) characteristics of a gold point contact and a molecular junction in the
nonresonant regime. Discontinuities in the I-V curves appear in correspondence
to the normal modes of the structures. Due to the quasi-one-dimensional nature
of these systems, specific modes with large longitudinal component dominate the
inelastic I-V curves. In the case of the gold point contact, our results are in
good agreement with recent experimental data. For the molecular junction, we
find that the inelastic I-V curves are quite sensitive to the structure of the
contact between the molecule and the electrodes thus providing a powerful tool
to extract the bonding geometry in molecular wires.
