Van der Waals Gas – Calculating Enthalpy of a Van der Waals Gas

energyentropygasthermodynamics

I was thinking about how would one find the enthalpy in terms of $V,T$ but not on the usual ideal gas, but instead on a Van Der Waals gas with constant temperature, that is, a gas that satisfies: $$(P+\frac{an^2}{V^2})(V-nb)=nRT$$ with $a,b$ constants. We all know that the enthalpy is defined as $$H=U+PV\Rightarrow dH=dU+VdP+PdV$$ and since we are taking constant temperature (isothermic) to make our lifes easier, and $dU=TdS-PdV$ we get $$dH=dU+PdV+VdP=TdS+VdP$$ since and by definition of the entropy in terms of pressure and temperature $dS=C_p \frac{dT}{T}+\frac{nR}{P}dP=\frac{nR}{P}dP$ (since temperature is constant) we can get $$dH=T(\frac{nR}{P}dP)+VdP=(\frac{nRT}{P}+V)dP$$ but am I supposed to substitute one of the variables $n,V,T$ with the Van Der Waals? On any case I could get a very long expression and I don't think it is possible, how can I enhance this?

Best Answer

Your equation for dS is for an ideal gas. For a real gas, it reads: $$dS=\frac{C_P}{T}dT-\left(\frac{\partial V}{\partial T}\right)_PdP$$

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