Van der Waals Forces

  • 1873 Johannes Diderik van Waals - “On the continuity of the gas & liquid state” Intermolecular forces

  • 1930 Fritz Wolfgang London - “The General Theory of Molecular Forces” London dispersion Force - attraction of everything due to resonance.

  • 1937 Hendrick Christoffel Hamaker - Hamaker Constant

  • 1956 Evgeny Mikheilouch Lifshitz - “The Theory of Molecular Attractive Forces between Solids”

Van der Waals Forces

London Dispersion Forces - Weakest, all atoms and molecules, polar & non polar, fluctuations of electron cloud (dipole), induced dipole leads to attraction.

Debye Forces - Induction. Force between polar and non polar

Keesom Forces - Orientation, Strongest force, rotational, between two polar molecules. Dipoles in the molecules align leading to an attractive force.