Van der Waals forces are very strongly repulsive at short nuclear distances and very weak at long internuclear distances.

Question

Quizplus · Accepted Answer

Van der Waals forces are indeed very weak at long distances, becoming negligible as the distance increases. However, at very short distances, these forces become strongly repulsive due to the Pauli exclusion principle, which prevents electron clouds from overlapping.

Van Der Waals Forces Are Very Strongly Repulsive at Short