Write down the van der Waals, equation for n moles of a real gas. What do the constants ‘a’ and ‘b’ stand for?
(P + an2/V2) (V – nb) = nRT where p, Vindicate gas pressure and its volume. T is the Kelvin temperature of the gas. R is gas constant. Value of ‘a’ is a measure of the magnitude of intermolecular attractive forces within the molecule and is independent of temperature and pressure, ‘rib’ is approximately the total volume occupied by the molecules themselves. ‘a’ and ‘b’ are called van der Waals constants and their value depends upon the nature of the gas.
