Timeline for Why does being "bonded" decrease atomic size?
Current License: CC BY-SA 3.0
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| when toggle format | what | by | license | comment | |
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| Jan 19, 2017 at 22:56 | comment | added | schneiderfelipe | van der Waals forces are actually attractive forces due to dispersion of electron clouds, but they do not play a role in this discussion. The point here is one of the assumptions of the van der Waals gas equation: atoms occupy space and two of them can't occupy the same volume at the same time; so if you model them as perfect spheres, the closest they can get is actually just twice the radius of that sphere. If both atoms are of the same element, this radius is the van der Waals radius for this element. | |
| Jan 19, 2017 at 7:58 | comment | added | MartianCactus | I dont really understand what the van der walls force is...why would you take the half of the distance between 2 non bonded elements? | |
| Jan 18, 2017 at 18:50 | history | answered | Paul | CC BY-SA 3.0 |