How are London dispersion forces formed?

1 Answer
Apr 5, 2017

When electrons travel around the nucleus, sometimes one side has a fewer amount of electrons than the other side. When this occurs, one side has a slight positive charge and the other side has a slight negative charge.

This imbalance of charge causes an atom from another molecule to have an imbalance of charge. Now, the sides of the atoms facing each other will have opposite charges, which attract. This force of attraction is the London dispersion force.