Question

How does surface area affect the Van der Waals interactions?

Answer 1

Van der waals forces or what is also called London Dispersion forces (LDF) increase with the increase of surface area.

Explanation:

Van der waals forces or what is also called London Dispersion forces (LDF) increase with the increase of surface area.

For example, we know that the only possible intermolecular forces between Alkanes `C_nH_(2n+2)` is LDF.

We notice that the first four alkanes are gases , then with the increase of the surface area of the alkane molecules they become liquid.