Dispersion Forces vs Van der Waals Reactions

[Bijan Mehdizadeh 1B]

I remember writing in my notes that van der waals reactions are interchangeable with London dispersion forces, but the book says that van der waals consist of dispersion forces, ion dipole rxns, and dipole dipole rxns collectively. I'm a bit confused as to the definition of van der waals reactions, so if anyone knows, I would really appreciate an answer. Thanks!

[Aidan Ryan 1B]

What we have learned is that van deer Waals is caused by small dipole dipole interactions between molecules. The term London forces is the same thing.

[timschaeffer Dis 1J]

There may be nuanced differences between the two terms, but I remember specifically in class that Professor lavelle said that "Dispersion" "London" "van der waals" and "induced dipole-induced dipole" forces are all essentially synonymous. I don't think we need to treat the terms as different things for the purposes of the class. In general, lavelle said that these forces all describe interactions in which fluctuating electron density in each molecule results in fluctuating dipoles and dipole forces between the molecules.