Properties of gases at very high temperatures

Abstract

Known intermolecular force laws are used to calculate virial coefficients of the equation of state and the transport properties at very high temperatures for the rare gases and for molecular nitrogen. The crucial force laws which enable the calculations to be carried to high temperatures are those derived from molecular beam scattering measurements, which are valid at close distances of molecular approach. The calculations cover the temperature range from 1000° to 15 000°K, but take into account only the translational degrees of freedom and neglect the effects of excitation, dissociation, and ionization. The treatment of mixtures is outlined, and illustrated by calculations for the binary system helium-argon. The methods which are used offer an approach to the problem of obtaining reasonably accurate estimates of gas properties at temperatures so high that direct experiments would be extremely difficult, if not impossible.