Real Gases: Deviations from Ideal Behavior All real gases deviate, to some degree, from PV = nRT. The deviations are most pronounced at... high P and/or low T. Real gas particles... 1) 2) DO occupy space DO experience attractive forces
ideal gas (ideal gas equation): real gas (van der Waals equation): correction for particle attraction (attraction makes P smaller than ideal gas law predicts) correction for particle volume (particles w/SOME vol. exert a bigger P than those w/zero vol.) Johannes Diderik van der Waals (1837 – 1923)
Effect of Particle Volume ideal gas particles mass m, speed v, ~NO volume real gas particles mass m, speed v, YES volume shorter mean free path = more collisions/sec. **GREATER pressure than PV = nRT predicts
The constants a and b are unique for each gas. -- a is large when interparticle attractions are large -- b is large for large gas particles a and b both tend to increase with mass e.g., both are larger for Xe than for Ne