Van der Waals force. Old-fashioned news-flash style clip explaining van der Waals force, using animation and a portrait of Johannes Diderik van der Waals. Although a molecule may be neutral overall, the charge distribution may not be even across the molecule. This results in a separation of charge within the molecule, creating a dipole. Net attraction or repulsion between such polar molecules (or between parts of the same molecule) is the van der Waal's force, named after Dutch scientist Johannes Diderik van der Waals. These forces are weaker than covalent or ionic bonds.