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Van der Waals' force
Sign in to saveAlso known as van der Waals' interaction, van der Waals' forces
residual forces between molecules or atomic groups not arising from covalent or ionic bonds
Van der Waals' forces are weak attractive forces that act between molecules or atomic groups when they don't have chemical bonds holding them together. These forces matter because they influence how substances behave—affecting properties like boiling points, how gases liquefy, and how molecules stick together in everyday materials.
AI-generated from the Wikipedia summary — may contain errors.
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Encyclopedic overview
Rainwater flux from a canopy. Among the forces that govern drop formation: Van der Waals force, surface tension, cohesion, Plateau–Rayleigh instability. Microfiber cloth makes use of van der Waals force to remove dirt without scratches.
In molecular physics and chemistry, the van der Waals force (sometimes van der Waals' force) is a distance-dependent interaction between atoms or molecules. Unlike ionic or covalent bonds, these attractions do not result from a chemical electronic bond; they are comparatively weak and therefore more susceptible to disturbance. The van der Waals force quickly vanishes at longer distances between interacting molecules.
Excerpted from Wikipedia’s “Van der Waals' force” article, available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.