What are the two main components of the atomic force detected by the atomic force microscope?
There are various forces between the AFM probe and the surface atoms of the sample, including van der Waals force, repulsive force, electrostatic force, deformation force, magnetic force, chemical force, etc. When the atomic force microscope is used, the influence of the van der Waals force and the repulsive force will be eliminated; in addition, in addition to the above two forces, the other forces themselves are relatively small.
Therefore, the atomic force detected by the atomic force microscope is mainly composed of van der Waals force and repulsive force. Among them, the van der Waals force is the attraction, and the essence of the repulsion force is the interaction between atoms and electron clouds, which is a quantum effect in essence.
