Chapter 1, Problem 1.63E

Interpretation Introduction

Interpretation:

The difficulty to determine an analytic expression for α and κ for a van der Waals gas is to be stated.

Concept introduction:

Generally, gaseous systems are used to study the thermodynamic properties since, the gaseous systems are well behaved. Intriguingly, the change in the state variables, when a certain state variable is changed can be determined. Thus, the gaseous systems are important in analyzing thermodynamic properties. In this regard, a few partial derivatives can be considered as basic properties of the gas. The two important partial derivatives of having significant interest are; 1) expansion coefficient of a gas (α) 2) isothermal compressibility (κ) of a gas.