Van der Waals radii of selected elements

Range Table - link
Organism Generic
Reference Chauvin, R. (1992) Explicit periodic trend of van der Waals radii. J. Phys. Chem. 96, 9194–9197
Method Equation (3) in text: Rw= 1.166(87.3)^(-1/(n'-1)) X cN/lncN where Rw is the Van der Waals radius, (cN)- c depends on the maximum number of electrons in the valence shell, N number of valence electrons in the neutral atom. n' is the Born exponent of the valence shell
Comments Van der Waals radii describe space-filling dimensions of atoms. When two atoms are joined covalently, the atomic radii at the point of bonding are less than the van der Waals radii, because the joined atoms are pulled together by the shared electron pair. The distance between nuclei in a van der Waals interaction or a covalent bond is about equal to the sum of the van der Waals or covalent radii, respectively, for the two atoms.
Entered by Uri M
ID 104237