<Li> Dispersion (usually named London dispersion interactions after Fritz London), which is the attractive interaction between any pair of molecules, including non-polar atoms, arising from the interactions of instantaneous multipoles . </Li> <P> Returning to nomenclature, different texts refer to different things using the term "van der Waals force". Some texts describe the van der Waals force as the totality of forces (including repulsion); others mean all the attractive forces (and then sometimes distinguish van der Waals - Keesom, van der Waals - Debye, and van der Waals - London). </P> <P> All intermolecular / van der Waals forces are anisotropic (except those between two noble gas atoms), which means that they depend on the relative orientation of the molecules . The induction and dispersion interactions are always attractive, irrespective of orientation, but the electrostatic interaction changes sign upon rotation of the molecules . That is, the electrostatic force can be attractive or repulsive, depending on the mutual orientation of the molecules . When molecules are in thermal motion, as they are in the gas and liquid phase, the electrostatic force is averaged out to a large extent, because the molecules thermally rotate and thus probe both repulsive and attractive parts of the electrostatic force . Sometimes this effect is expressed by the statement that "random thermal motion around room temperature can usually overcome or disrupt them" (which refers to the electrostatic component of the van der Waals force). Clearly, the thermal averaging effect is much less pronounced for the attractive induction and dispersion forces . </P> <P> The Lennard - Jones potential is often used as an approximate model for the isotropic part of a total (repulsion plus attraction) van der Waals force as a function of distance . </P>

Difference between van der waals and electrostatic force
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