Question

What is the physical significance of Vander Waals parameter.

Answer 1

The physical significance of vander waals parameter is :

The vander waals equation is the equation of state for a fluid composed of particles that have a non zero volume and a pair wise attractive inter particle force i.e.,(vander waals force)

The Equation is:

$(p+\frac{n^{2}a}{V^2})(V-nb)=nRT$

The physical significance of 'a': 'a' is a measure of magnitude of intermolecular attractive forces between the particles

Physical significance of ‘b’:

‘b’ is the volume excluded by a mole of particles

p is the pressure of fluid

V is the total volume of container containing the fluid