Question

Van der Waals forces are the only attractive forces present in nonpolar compounds.

(a) True

(b) False

This question was addressed to me in final exam.

The origin of the question is Biopharmaceuticals topic in portion Biopharmaceuticals of Drug Biotechnology

Answer 1

Right answer is (a) True

Easy explanation: They are weak interactions caused by momentary changes in electron density in a molecule. Thus they are the only force between non-polar molecules. Such as CH4 has no net dipole, at any one instant its electron density may not be completely symmetrical, resulting in a temporary dipole. This can induce a temporary dipole in another molecule. The weak interaction of these temporary dipoles constituents’ van der Waals forces.