London force

intermolecular force
Also known as: dispersion force, induced-dipole-induced dipole interaction

Learn about this topic in these articles:

chemical association

chromatography

description

  • The weak dipole attraction of the van der Waals bond.
    In van der Waals forces

    …fluctuations in molecules (known as London forces, or dispersion forces) are present even between permanently polar molecules and produce, generally, the largest of the three contributions to intermolecular forces.

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intermolecular forces

  • crystal bonding
    In chemical bonding: Dispersion interaction

    The third type of interaction acts between all types of molecule, polar or not. It is also somewhat stronger than the two attractive interactions discussed thus far and is the principal force responsible for the existence of the condensed phases of certain molecular…

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solutions

  • argon phase diagram
    In liquid: Nonpolar molecules

    …intermolecular forces of attraction called London (or dispersion) forces. All molecules, charged or not, polar or not, interact by London forces. To a first approximation, the London force between two molecules is inversely proportional to the seventh power of the distance of separation; it is therefore short-range, decreasing rapidly as…

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