Ideal gas (how ideal?)

[kingwinner]

In general, which of the gases, N2, CO, and H2, would you expect to behave the most and least ideally?

 

I have no idea how to determine this...can someone help me? Thank you!

[Boerseun]

A good question, actually. But it depends which 'ideal gas' you're talking about. There are Fermi ideal gases, Boltzman ideal gases and Maxwell-Boltzman ideal gases, amongst others - all of which are ideal under a certain set of parameters like pressure and such.

 

But one requirement for an ideal gas is that there are no intermolecular interactions, so I suspect the closest approximation to the 'ideal' gas would probably be Helium. It's inert, and after Hydrogen the simplest gas.

 

Just a guess, though...

[ronthepon]

The difference between real and ideal gases is:

 

1- No interactions other than collision between gas molecules.

2- The volume of the gas molecules is much smaller than the spaces between the molecules.

 

So, the larger the gas molecule, and greater the forces between them, the more non-ideal will the gas be.

 

I would expect hydrogen, but apparently nitrogen is the most ideal of the lot. That too until about 200 bars.

[ronthepon]

Er,

 

PS: I did not see Boersuen's post while I made mine.

[Qfwfq]

I suspect King meant what you meant, just basic kinetic theory of gas.

 

[math]PV = nRT[/math]

[ronthepon]

Yeah, and the ideality factor of Z included,

 

[math]Z = \frac {PV}{nRT}[/math]

 

, it being one for a truly ideal gas.