Thermodynamic Properties of Real Fluids

Abstract

The ideal gas studied in the previous chapters is a very useful idealization, but does not exist in nature. The molecules are small but have non-zero dimensions and exert forces on one another, called van der Waals forces. Consequently, at low temperatures or high pressures real gases behave very differently from ideal ones up to the point to change aggregation phase and become liquid. We shall see how a state equation, the van der Waals equation, approximately describes the real fluids. We shall then study the aggregation phase transitions. In the final sections we deal with the capillary phenomena, which appear at the interfaces between different aggregation phases, finally treating boiling and vaporization..