Question

what do your conclude from your obsercations about the quantitative validity of the van der waals model for a real gas? how would you enlarge upon this experiment to more thoroghly test the appropriateness of the van der waals parameterization?

Answer 1

According to the van der waals model of gases, there is a significant difference between the observed volume and observed pressure of the gas under study. The van der waals equation or model is based on the idea that a gas molecule does have a volume and has an attarcative force between them. These two factors do not exist in ideal gas equations. The volume parameter is represented as "b" and the force between the molecules is represented as "a". We could test this model by changing the type of gas to be studied. So as the size of the gas moelcules change the volume parameter "b" and the attractive force "a" between the molecules also vary, resulting into a changed pressure value for the system. So as the values change it is a direct way to confirm the suitability of the van der waals model in real terms.