Title: London forces
Long Title: IUPAC Gold Book - London forces
DOI: 10.1351/goldbook.L03617
Status: current

Definition
Attractive forces between apolar molecules, due to their mutual polarizability. They are also components of the forces between polar molecules. Also called 'dispersion forces'.

Related Terms
- polarizability: https://goldbook.iupac.org//terms/view/P04711
- van der Waals forces: https://goldbook.iupac.org//terms/view/V06597

Source
- PAC, 1994, 66, 1077. 'Glossary of terms used in physical organic chemistry (IUPAC Recommendations 1994)' on page 1136 (https://doi.org/10.1351/pac199466051077)

Other Outputs
- html: https://goldbook.iupac.org/terms/view/L03617/html
- json: https://goldbook.iupac.org/terms/view/L03617/json
- xml: https://goldbook.iupac.org/terms/view/L03617/xml

Citation: Citation: 'London forces' in IUPAC Compendium of Chemical Terminology, 5th ed. International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry; 2025. Online version 5.0.0, 2025. 10.1351/goldbook.L03617
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Accessed: 2025-11-21T04:40:01+00:00