Why is van der waals radius greater than covalent radius?
Answers
Answered by
0
The van der Waals radius and the covalent radius actually deal with two different situations.
The former is used when dealing with atoms that are not bonded, and the latter is used for atoms that are covalently bonded.
The main reason for why the van der Waals radius is greater than the covalent radius is that it does not take into account overlap.
The overlap that exists between the two electron clouds is what causes the covalent radius to be smaller than the van der Waals radius. see fig
Attachments:
Similar questions