what is the difference between van der waals interaction and casimir interaction?

wdlang

It seems to me that the physics is the same

they are all due to the exchange of virtual photons between two particles

Sojourner01

I'm grappling with the same problem myself. From what I can gather, the casimir force is due to the interaction of the vacuum itself with its boundaries, and the van der waals force is a property of the materials that make up the boundary. You have to delve deeper into it to see the difference - and there are those who think that the casimir force can be adequately explained by van der waals-type interactions between the atoms in the 'plates'.