Johannes Diderik van der Waals

High school (ages 12+)
History & Culture

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Date:

Step 1 · Read the article

Open the article and read it at the level above. Then answer the questions below in your own words.

https://smallwhale.org/articles/johannes-diderik-van-der-waals

Write what each word means, using the article.

Do not copy the article. Write two things you learned, the way you would explain them to a friend.

Answers below are taken from the article’s stored facts, so they match what the student read.

1. When was Johannes Diderik van der Waals born?November 23, 1837, Leiden, Netherlands
2. When did Johannes Diderik van der Waals die?February 1, 1923, Amsterdam, Netherlands
3. What did Johannes Diderik van der Waals discover about gases?He made a new equation that shows gases have size and pull on each other, so they can become liquids.
4. Why is his equation called the van der Waals equation?Because he added two corrections to the old gas law: one for the space the molecules take up and one for the tiny pulls between them.

Equation of State: A thermodynamic equation that relates state variables like pressure, temperature, and volume for a substance.
Intermolecular Forces: Attractive or repulsive forces between neighboring molecules, crucial for determining physical properties like boiling point.
Critical Point: The specific temperature and pressure at which the liquid and gas phases of a substance become indistinguishable.
Ideal Gas Law: A simplified model describing gas behavior assuming molecules have no volume and no intermolecular forces.