cyborg6060
Aug14-11, 11:06 AM
In van der Waals' equation for real gases, the adaptation to account for intermolecular attractions in real gas is a\frac{n^2}{V^2}. This implies that the pressure due to the VDW forces on the container is proportional to the square of the density, \rho^2 = \frac{n^2}{V^2}.
When I do calculations following from P_{VDW}=\frac{\pi \rho^2 \lambda}{H^3}, I end up with a cubic dependence.
Is there a qualitative way to imagine why the pressure is proportional to the square of the molecular density, \rho?
When I do calculations following from P_{VDW}=\frac{\pi \rho^2 \lambda}{H^3}, I end up with a cubic dependence.
Is there a qualitative way to imagine why the pressure is proportional to the square of the molecular density, \rho?