Van der Waals equation of state

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The van der Waals equation of state, developed by Johannes Diderik van der Waals, can be written as

.

where:

  • is the pressure
  • is the volume
  • is the number of moles
  • is the absolute temperature
  • is the Gas constant; , with being Avogadro constant

The van der Waals equation of state takes into account two features that are absent in the ideal Gas equation of state: The parameter introduces somehow the repulsive behavior between pairs of molecules at short distances, it represents the minimum molar volume of the system, whereas measures the attractive interactions between the molecules. The van der Waals equation of state leads to a liquid-vapor equilibrium at low temperatures, with the corresponding critical point.


Critical point

The critical point for the van der Waals equation of state can be found at

,

and at

.

Interesting reading

References