Van der Waals’s radius is one half the distances between two nonbonded atoms, when attractive and repulsive forces between the atoms are balanced.
Atoms and molecules have no strict boundaries. The volume of a free atom is usually defined as that volume that contains 90 % of electron cloud. The radius of an atom represents half of interatom distance of two identical atoms which are in touch but are not interconnected either by a covalent or an ionic bond, but with a very weak van der Waals’s bond.
Van derWaals’ force is the weak attractive force between two molecules which arises from electric dipole interactions. It can lead to the formation of stable but weakly bound dimer molecules or clusters. They are named after the Dutch physicist Johannes van der Waals (1837-1923).
Ionic radius is the radius of anions and cations in crystalline ionic compounds, as determined by consistently partitioning the center-to-center distance of ions in those compounds. In general, negative ions have larger ionic radii than positive ions.
Van der Waals’ equation is an equation of state for real fluids which takes the form:
where p is pressure, Vm is molar volume, T is temperature, R is the molar gas constant, and a and b are characteristic parameters of the substance which describe the effect of attractive and repulsive intermolecular forces.
Radium was discovered by Marie and Pierre Curie (France) in 1898. The origin of the name comes from the Latin word radius meaning ray. It is silvery-white radioactive metal. Reacts with oxygen and water. Highly radiotoxic. Carcinogen by inhalation, ingestion, or exposure. Radium is found in uranium ores at 1 part per 3 million parts uranium. Used in treating cancer because of the gamma rays it gives off.
Actinium was discovered by André Debierne (France) in 1899. The origin of the name comes from the Greek word aktinos meaning ray. It is heavy, silvery-white, very radioactive metal. Reacts with water. Glows in the dark. Actinium is extremely rare, found in all uranium ores. Usually obtained by treating radium with neutrons in a reactor.
Alkali earth metal is a term that refers to six elements: beryllium (Be), magnesium (Mg), calcium (Ca), strontium (Sr), barium (Ba), and radium (Ra). These elements make up group 2 of the periodic table of elements. They all exhibit a single oxidation state, +2. They are all light and very reactive. Barium and radium are the most reactive and beryllium is the least.
To denote slightly soluble metal oxides chemists formerly used the term "earth". The oxides of barium, strontium, and calcium resemble alumina (Al2O3), a typical "earth", but form alkaline mixtures with water. For this reason barium, strontium, and calcium were called alkaline earth metals. This name has now been extended to include all of the elements of group 2.
Centrifuge is a device in which solid or liquid particles of different densities are separated by rotating them in a tube in a horizontal circle. The dense particles tend to move along the length of the tube to a greater radius of rotation, displacing the lighter particles to the other end.
Francium was discovered by Marguerite Perey (France) in 1939. Named for France, the nation of its discovery. It is highly rare and unstable, radioactive metal. Chemical properties similar to cesium. Francium is formed by decay of actinium. Produced by bombarding radium or astatine with neutrons. Since its isotopes have such short half-lives there are no commercially significant compounds of francium.
Generalic, Eni. "Van der Waals%E2%80%99s radius." Croatian-English Chemistry Dictionary & Glossary. 29 June 2022. KTF-Split. {Date of access}. <https://glossary.periodni.com>.
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