The Elements of Physical Chemistry With Applications in BiologyCover design: Patricia MeDermond Cataloging-in-publication data is available from the Library of Congress. © 1993, 1997, and 2001 by Peter Atkins Published inthe United Stats of America by W. H. Freeman and Company, Al Madison Avenue, New York, NY_ 10010. Published in the United Kingdom by Oxford University Press. No part of this book may be reproduced by any mechanical, photographic, or electronic process, or inthe form of a phonographie recording, nor may it be stored in areival system, transmitted, or otherwise copied for public or private use, without the writen permission of the publisher Printed inthe United States of America Fist printing 2000 ‘This edition has been authorized by the Oxford University Press for sale in the USA and Canada only and not for export therefrom,Chapter 16 Molecular substances feces ows and molecules with complete valence shells are still able to interact with one another. ‘They attract one another over the range of several atomic diameters and they repel one another when pressed together. These residual forces are highly important. They account, for instance, for the con- densation of gases to liquids and the structures of molecular solids. All organic liquids and solids, ranging from small molecules like benzene to vit tually infinite cellulose and the polymers from which fabrics are made, are bound together by the forces of cohesion we explore in this chapter. These forces are also responsible for the structural organi- zation of biological macromolecules, for they twist the long polypeptide chains of proteins into charac- teristic shapes and then pin them together in the arrangement essential to their function. The origins of cohesion van der Waals force is an interaction between. closed-shell molecules. The attractive contribu- tions to these forces include the interactions be- tween the partial electric charges of polar molecules and of polar functional groups in macro- molecules. Van der Waals forces also include the re- pulsive interactions that prevent the complete collapse of matter to densities as high as those char-