Difference between London dispersion forces and Van Der Waal's

[annemarielawrence]

What is the difference between london dispersion forces and van der waals? I know that all London Dispersion forces are Van Der Waals but I don't understand why London Dispersion forces cannot be considered Van Der Waals

[Chloe Borja 2D]

Please correct me if I'm wrong, but I'm not entirely sure if we would need to know the difference—at least now—since its kind of slight. If I remember correctly, the terms are just used interchangeably, along with induced dipole-induced dipole attraction.

[Michelle_Duong_3H]

Hello,

Dispersion forces, London dispersion forces, and Van der Waal forces are all the same thing. These occur when there is an induced dipole-induced dipole interaction between molecules. These types of attractive forces are present in all molecular interactions.

Hope this helps!

[ElizabethKarlin2E]

We haven't gone over the differences because they're so minuscule. I think for now we can use both terms interchangeably

[Wenhan Li_3d]

London dispersion forces different from Van der Waals forces because Van der Waals forces is the weakest intermolecular force and consist of dipole-dipole forces and dispersion forces .

[Omeed Kalan]

I believe they are the same, at least in our course, thus you can use them the same way.

[706007087]

Van Der Waal's is a type of force that occurs dipole to dipole. London Dispersion is a subtype of Van der Waal's, where the interactions occur mainly on between nonpolar molecules. In the context of this class, they are basically the same thing.