Question

HF has covalent radius or van der Waals radius?

• A. Covalent radius
• B. Van der Waals radius

Answer 1

Answer: (B)

Van der Waals radius

Answer 2

Covalent radius is associated with atoms forming a covalent bond, like the H-F bond in HF. Van der Waals radius is associated with the intermolecular distances between non-bonded HF molecules. Van der Waals radius is always greater than covalent radius because covalent bonding involves orbital overlap, bringing nuclei closer than in non-bonded interactions. Therefore, the Van der Waals radius describes the overall spatial extent of an HF molecule.