page_title: List of Dutch discoveries
section_title: Van der Waals forces (1873)
hierarchical_section_title: List of Dutch discoveries / Discoveries / Physics / Van der Waals forces (1873)
caption_attribution_description: Head and front legs of a Gecko (unspecified species, leaf-shaped tail)
context_page_description: The Netherlands had a considerable part in the making of modern society. The Netherlands and its people have made numerous seminal contributions to the world's civilization, especially in art, science, technology and engineering, economics and finance, cartography and geography, exploration and navigation, law and jurisprudence, thought and philosophy, medicine, and agriculture. Dutch-speaking people, in spite of their relatively small number, have a significant history of invention, innovation, discovery and exploration. The following list is composed of objects, unknown lands, breakthrough ideas/concepts, principles, phenomena, processes, methods, techniques, styles etc., that were discovered or invented by people from the Netherlands and Dutch-speaking people from the former Southern Netherlands. Until the fall of Antwerp, the Dutch and Flemish were generally seen as one people.
context_section_description: The van der Waals forces are named after the scientist who first described them in 1873. Johannes Diderik van der Waals noted the non-ideality of gases and attributed it to the existence of molecular or atomic interactions. They are forces that develop between the atoms inside molecules and keep them together. The Van der Waals forces between molecules, much weaker than chemical bonds but present universally, play a fundamental role in fields as diverse as supramolecular chemistry, structural biology, polymer science, nanotechnology, surface science, and condensed matter physics. Elucidation of the nature of the Van der Waals forces between molecules has remained a scientific effort from Van der Waals's days to the present.
caption: The Van der Waals force between atoms, molecules and surfaces is a part of everyday life in many different ways. Geckos can stick to walls and ceilings because of Van der Waals forces.
exif: {"Image Make": "Sony Ericsson", "Image Model": "K750i", "Image Orientation": "Horizontal (normal)", "Image XResolution": "72", "Image YResolution": "72", "Image ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Image Software": "GIMP 2.6.7", "Image DateTime": "2010:01:06 09:10:42", "Image YCbCrPositioning": "Co-sited", "Image ExifOffset": "202", "Thumbnail Compression": "JPEG (old-style)", "EXIF ExposureTime": "1/20", "EXIF FNumber": "14/5", "EXIF ISOSpeedRatings": "160", "EXIF ExifVersion": "0220", "EXIF DateTimeOriginal": "2006:12:16 15:58:35", "EXIF DateTimeDigitized": "2006:12:16 15:58:35", "EXIF ComponentsConfiguration": "YCbCr", "EXIF ExposureBiasValue": "0", "EXIF MeteringMode": "CenterWeightedAverage", "EXIF LightSource": "Unknown", "EXIF Flash": "Flash did not fire", "EXIF FlashPixVersion": "0100", "EXIF ColorSpace": "sRGB", "EXIF ExifImageWidth": "1632", "EXIF ExifImageLength": "1224", "EXIF CustomRendered": "Normal", "EXIF ExposureMode": "Auto Exposure", "EXIF WhiteBalance": "Auto", "EXIF DigitalZoomRatio": "1", "EXIF SceneCaptureType": "Standard", "EXIF SubjectDistanceRange": "1"}