An Etymological Dictionary of Astronomy and Astrophysics

A weak attractive force between neutral atoms and molecules arising from polarization induced in each particle by the presence of other particles. All molecules contain electrically charged particles, and even though the molecule as a whole is electrically neutral there do exist between molecules van der Waals attractive forces of electric origin.

See also: Named after Dutch physicist Johannes Diderik van der Waals (1837-1923), Nobel Prize in Physics 1910; → force.