Johannes Diderik van der Waals

Thermodynamics
The classical Carnot heat engine
Branches Classical Statistical Chemical Quantum thermodynamics Equilibrium / Non-equilibrium
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System properties Note: Conjugate variables in italics Property diagrams Intensive and extensive properties Process functions Work Heat Functions of state Temperature / Entropy (introduction) Pressure / Volume Chemical potential / Particle number Vapor quality Reduced properties
Material properties Property databases Specific heat capacity  ${\displaystyle c=}$ ${\displaystyle T}$ ${\displaystyle \partial S}$ ${\displaystyle N}$ ${\displaystyle \partial T}$ Compressibility  ${\displaystyle \beta =-}$ ${\displaystyle 1}$ ${\displaystyle \partial V}$ ${\displaystyle V}$ ${\displaystyle \partial p}$ Thermal expansion  ${\displaystyle \alpha =}$ ${\displaystyle 1}$ ${\displaystyle \partial V}$ ${\displaystyle V}$ ${\displaystyle \partial T}$
Equations Carnot's theorem Clausius theorem Fundamental relation Ideal gas law Maxwell relations Onsager reciprocal relations Bridgman's equations Table of thermodynamic equations
Potentials Free energy Free entropy Internal energy ${\displaystyle U(S,V)}$ Enthalpy ${\displaystyle H(S,p)=U+pV}$ Helmholtz free energy ${\displaystyle A(T,V)=U-TS}$ Gibbs free energy ${\displaystyle G(T,p)=H-TS}$
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Scientists Bernoulli Boltzmann Carnot Clapeyron Clausius Carathéodory Duhem Gibbs von Helmholtz Joule Maxwell von Mayer Onsager Rankine Smeaton Stahl Thompson Thomson van der Waals Waterston
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The main interest of Van der Waals was in the field of thermodynamics. He was influenced by Rudolf Clausius' 1857 treatise entitled Über die Art der Bewegung, welche wir Wärme nennen (On the Kind of Motion which we Call Heat).[10][11] Van der Waals was later greatly influenced by the writings of James Clerk Maxwell, Ludwig Boltzmann, and Willard Gibbs. Clausius' work led him to look for an explanation of Thomas Andrews' experiments that had revealed, in 1869, the existence of critical temperatures in fluids.[12] He managed to give a semi-quantitative description of the phenomena of condensation and critical temperatures in his 1873 thesis, entitled Over de Continuïteit van den Gas- en Vloeistoftoestand (On the continuity of the gas and liquid state).[13] This dissertation represented a hallmark in physics and was immediately recognized as such, e.g. by James Clerk Maxwell who reviewed it in Nature[14] in a laudatory manner.

In this thesis he derived the equation of state bearing his name. This work gave a model in which the liquid and the gas phase of a substance merge into each other in a continuous manner. It shows that the two phases are of the same nature. In deriving his equation of state Van der Waals assumed not only the existence of molecules (the existence of atoms was disputed at the time[15]), but also that they are of finite size and attract each other. Since he was one of the first to postulate an intermolecular force, however rudimentary, such a force is now sometimes called a Van der Waals force.

A second major discovery was the 1880 the Law of Corresponding States, which showed that the Van der Waals equation of state can be expressed as a simple function of the critical pressure, critical volume, and critical temperature. This general form is applicable to all substances (see Van der Waals equation.) The compound-specific constants a and b in the original equation are replaced by universal (compound-independent) quantities. It was this law which served as a guide during experiments which ultimately led to the liquefaction of hydrogen by James Dewar in 1898 and of helium by Heike Kamerlingh Onnes in 1908.

In 1890, Van der Waals published a treatise on the Theory of Binary Solutions in the Archives Néerlandaises. By relating his equation of state with the Second Law of Thermodynamics, in the form first proposed by Willard Gibbs, he was able to arrive at a graphical representation of his mathematical formulations in the form of a surface which he called Ψ (Psi) surface following Gibbs, who used the Greek letter Ψ for the free energy of a system with different phases in equilibrium.

Mention should also be made of Van der Waals' theory of capillarity which in its basic form first appeared in 1893.[16] In contrast to the mechanical perspective on the subject provided earlier by Pierre-Simon Laplace,[17] Van der Waals took a thermodynamic approach. This was controversial at the time, since the existence of molecules and their permanent, rapid motion were not universally accepted before Jean Baptiste Perrin's experimental verification of Albert Einstein's theoretical explanation of Brownian motion.

Van der Waals received numerous honors and distinctions, besides winning the 1910 Nobel Prize in Physics. He was awarded an honorary doctorate of the University of Cambridge; was made Honorary Member of the Imperial Society of Naturalists of Moscow, the Royal Irish Academy, and the American Philosophical Society (1916);[18] Corresponding Member of the Institut de France and the Royal Academy of Sciences of Berlin; Associate Member of the Royal Academy of Sciences of Belgium; and Foreign Member of the Chemical Society of London, the National Academy of Sciences of the United States (1913),[19] and of the Accademia dei Lincei of Rome. Van der Waals became a member of the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences in 1875.[20] From 1896 until 1912, he was secretary of this society. He was furthermore elected as Honorary Member of the Netherlands Chemical Society in 1912.[21]

...There can be no doubt that the name of Van der Waals will soon be among the foremost in molecular science,

— James Clerk Maxwell's remarks in Nature magazine (1873).[3]

...It will be perfectly clear that in all my studies I was quite convinced of the real existence of molecules, that I never regarded them as a figment of my imagination, nor even as mere centres of force effects. I considered them to be the actual bodies, thus what we term "body" in daily speech ought better to be called "pseudo body". It is an aggregate of bodies and empty space. We do not know the nature of a molecule consisting of a single chemical atom. It would be premature to seek to answer this question but to admit this ignorance in no way impairs the belief in its real existence. When I began my studies I had the feeling that I was almost alone in holding that view. And when, as occurred already in my 1873 treatise, I determined their number in one gram-mol, their size and the nature of their action, I was strengthened in my opinion, yet still there often arose within me the question whether in the final analysis a molecule is a figment of the imagination and the entire molecular theory too. And now I do not think it any exaggeration to state that the real existence of molecules is universally assumed by physicists. Many of those who opposed it most have ultimately been won over, and my theory may have been a contributory factor. And precisely this, I feel, is a step forward. Anyone acquainted with the writings of Boltzmann and Willard Gibbs will admit that physicists carrying great authority believe that the complex phenomena of the heat theory can only be interpreted in this way. It is a great pleasure for me that an increasing number of younger physicists find the inspiration for their work in studies and contemplations of the molecular theory...

— Johannes D. van der Waals's notes in Nobel Lecture, The equation of state for gases and liquids (12 December 1910).

• Van der Waals equation
• Van der Waals radius
• Van der Waals force
• Redlich–Kwong equation of state
• Peng–Robinson equation of state

• Kipnis, A. Ya.; Yavelov, B. E.; Rowlinson, J. S. (trans.): Van der Waals and Molecular Science. (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1996) ISBN 0-19-855210-6
• Sengers, Johanna Levelt: How Fluids Unmix: Discoveries by the School of Van der Waals and Kamerlingh Onnes. (Amsterdam : Koninklijke Nerlandse Akademie van Wetenschappen, 2002)
• Shachtman, Tom: Absolute Zero and the Conquest of Cold. (Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1999)
• Van Delft, Dirk: Freezing Physics: Heike Kamerlingh Onnes and the Quest for Cold. (Amsterdam: Koninklijke Nerlandse Akademie van Wetenschappen, 2008)
• Van der Waals, J. D.: Edited and Intro. J. S. Rowlinson: On the Continuity of the Liquid and Gaseous States. (New York: Dover Publications, 2004, 320pp)

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Johannes Diderik van der Waals.

Wikisource has original works written by or about: Johannes Diderik van der Waals

• Scientists of the Dutch School Van der Waals, Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences
• Albert van Helden Johannes Diderik van der Waals 1837 – 1923 In: K. van Berkel, A. van Helden and L. Palm ed., A History of Science in the Netherlands. Survey, Themes and Reference (Leiden: Brill, 1999) 596 – 598.
• Johannes Diderik van der Waals on Nobelprize.org including the Nobel Lecture, December 12, 1910 The Equation of State for Gases and Liquids
• Museum Boerhaave "Negen Nederlandse Nobelprijswinnaars" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on June 7, 2011. (2.32 MiB)
• H.A.M. Snelders, Waals Sr., Johannes Diderik van der (1837–1923), in Biografisch Woordenboek van Nederland.
• Biography of Johannes Diderik van der Waals (1837–1923) at the National Library of the Netherlands.