How Do You Derive Expansivity and Isothermal Compressibility for an Ideal Gas?

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Homework Help Overview

The discussion revolves around deriving the expressions for expansivity and isothermal compressibility for an ideal gas, specifically focusing on the relationships involving temperature and pressure. The subject area includes thermodynamics and properties of gases.

Discussion Character

  • Exploratory, Conceptual clarification, Mathematical reasoning

Approaches and Questions Raised

  • Participants explore the definitions of expansivity and isothermal compressibility, noting their dependence on derivatives. There is a discussion about the relevance of these definitions in the context of the problem statement.

Discussion Status

Some participants have provided clarifications regarding the definitions of the terms involved and have suggested using the ideal gas law as part of the derivation process. Multiple interpretations of how to approach the problem are being explored, with no explicit consensus reached yet.

Contextual Notes

There is a mention of the original poster's uncertainty regarding the importance of the definitions since they were not explicitly provided in the homework question. This indicates a potential gap in the information available for the derivation.

LeePhilip01
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Homework Statement


Show that:-
a) the expansivity [tex]\beta[/tex] = [tex]\frac{1}{T}[/tex]
b) the isothermal compressibilty [tex]\kappa[/tex] = [tex]\frac{1}{P}[/tex]


Homework Equations


P[tex]\upsilon[/tex] = RT where [tex]\upsilon[/tex] = molar volume


The Attempt at a Solution


A big mess!
 
Last edited:
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Hi LeePhilip01, welcome to PF. Do you know how the expansivity and isothermal compressibility are defined in general? (Hint: it will involve derivatives.)
 
Yes, however i wasn't sure whether they were important because they weren't given in th question.

[tex]\beta[/tex] = [tex]\frac{1}{V}[/tex] . [tex]\frac{dV}{dT}[/tex]

[tex]\kappa[/tex] = - [tex]\frac{1}{V}[/tex] . [tex]\frac{dV}{dP}[/tex]
 
To be precise, we should say

[tex]\beta=\frac{1}{V}\left(\frac{\partial V}{\partial T}\right)_P[/itex]<br /> <br /> [tex]\kappa=-\frac{1}{V}\left(\frac{\partial V}{\partial P}\right)_T[/itex]<br /> <br /> to acknowledge that <i>V</i> is a function of multiple variables and that we are taking the partial derivative with respect to one of the variables while holding the others constant.<br /> <br /> Now use<br /> <br /> [tex]Pv=RT[/itex]<br /> <br /> [tex]\beta=\frac{1}{v}\left(\frac{\partial v}{\partial T}\right)_P=\frac{1}{v}\,\frac{\partial }{\partial T}\left(\frac{RT}{P}\right)\right)_P[/itex]<br /> <br /> and so on.[/tex][/tex][/tex][/tex]
 

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