Question

How is the Van der Waals equation an improvement over the ideal gas equation? How are the a and b parameters related to molecular properties of the gas?

Answer 1

According to the ideal gas law PV = nRT It is assumed that there are no forces between the gas molecules. The volume of the molecules is negligible, relative to the container. But real gases don’t follow these assumptions. But in this case, The real gas molecule exerts (or) attracts each other. So the pressure will be less than the ideal pressure. So, the real pressure due to attractive forces will be a is the term which accounts for the attractive forces between the gas molecules. As the pressure