van der Waals forces /van′ der wäls′, fän-/ [Johannes D. van der Waals, Dutch physicist and Nobel laureate, 1837–1923] , weak attractive forces between neutral atoms and molecules. They occur because a fluctuating dipole moment in one molecule induces a dipole moment in another and the two dipole moments interact in an attractive manner. The activity accounts for some deviation from Boyle’s law at very low temperatures or very high pressures. Also called dispersion forces.
