How can pure noble gases become solids at low temperature? what interaction do they have?
In: Chemistry
Temporary dipoles (also known as “London dispersion forces”).
Proper understanding of London disperson forces requires using quantum mechanics, which is beyond my ability to ELI5, so I’m going with the not quite correct ‘classic’ explanation:
An atom consists of a positively charged center surrounded by a cloud of negatively charged electrons. However, the distribution of electrons around an atom isn’t always uniform. When it isn’t uniform then the atom ends up with a ‘positive’ side and a ‘negative’ side (known as a “dipole”). The positive side will tend to attract electrons from neighboring atoms, while the negative side will tend to repel electrons from neighboring atoms, resulting in those neighboring atoms also becoming a little bit unbalanced. This effectively lets the atoms in a solid correlate their dipoles and results in small but non-trivial amount of attractive force between them.
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