van der Waals equation

English

Alternative forms

• Van der Waals equation, van der Waals equation of state

Etymology

Named after Dutch physicist Johannes Diderik van der Waals.

Proper noun

the van der Waals equation

1. (chemistry) A gas law which generalizes the ideal gas law to non-ideal gases, taking into account intermolecular forces and the size of molecules.

   $(P+{\frac {a}{V^{2}}})(V-b)=RT$, where $a$ and $b$ are constants experimentally determined for a particular gas.

   Synonym: van der Waals law

Related terms

• van der Waals gas