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engel: Introduction to Thermodynamics and Heat Transfer, Second Edition

I. Thermodynamics

4. Properties of Pure Substances

The McGrawHill Companies, 2008

Chapter 4
Gases behave differently at a given temperature and pressure, but they behave very much the same at temperatures and pressures normalized with respect to their critical temperatures and pressures. The normalization is done (always using absolute pressure and temperature) as
PR P Pcr and TR T Tcr
(420)

139

Here PR is called the reduced pressure and TR the reduced temperature. The Z factor for all gases is approximately the same at the same reduced pressure and temperature. This is called the principle of corresponding states. In Fig. 451, the experimentally determined Z values are plotted against PR and TR for several gases. The gases seem to obey the principle of corresponding states reasonably well. By curve-fitting all the data, we

1.1

1.0

TR = 2.00

0.9 TR = 1.50 0.8 TR = 1.30

0.7 Pv RT Z= 0.6

TR = 1.20

0.5 TR = 1.10 0.4 TR = 1.00 Legend: Methane Iso-pentane Ethylene n-Heptane Ethane Nitrogen Propane Carbon dioxide n-Butane Water Average curve based on data on hydrocarbons 2.0 2.5 3.0 3.5 4.0 4.5 5.0 5.5 6.0 6.5 7.0

0.3

0.2

0.1

0.5

1.0

1.5

Reduced pressure PR

FIGURE 451 Comparison of Z factors for various gases.

Source: Gour-Jen Su, Modified Law of Corresponding States, Ind. Eng. Chem. (international ed.) 38 (1946), p. 803.