Van der Waals Forces

These gecko foot hairs remind me of the starfish feet in the video below.

And I like this definition because it makes acquisitive, averse and confused into more fluid ideas characterised by interaction. 

"Van der Waals forces include attractions and repulsions between atoms, molecules, and surfaces, as well as other intermolecular forces. 

Intermolecular forces have four major contributions:

1. A repulsive component resulting from the Pauli exclusion principle that prevents the collapse of molecules.
   
2. Attractive or repulsive electrostatic interactions. 
   
3. Induction (also known as polarization), which is the attractive interaction between a permanent multipole on one molecule with an induced multipole on another. 
   
4. Dispersion, which is the attractive interaction between any pair of molecules, arising from the interactions of instantaneous multipoles.
   

Different texts refer to different things using the term "van der Waals force". Some mean the totality of forces (including repulsion); others mean all the attractive forces."

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