Van der Waals radius of inert gases increases or decreases along a group?
I am confused because van der Waals forces is directly prop to molecular weight so radii must decrease?!?!

Dear student,

Noble gases do not form the intermolecular bonds due to there inert nature, Therefore, the Van der Waals radii of the noble gas give the distance between the outermost shell and the center of the nucleus.
van der Waals radii and van der Waals force are two different concepts, hence they are not interrelated.

As we know, as we go down the group the number of shells increase and hence the van der Waals radii of the noble gases should increase down the group.
Hope this information will clear your doubts about the topic.

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Regards
 

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