Solving PV=nRT for Solids - How to Determine Temp?

In summary: No. Although you do need to state the entire situation in which you are looking. For example, if you have a piece of steel that is sitting by itself and you raise the temperature, there will be no increase in stress due to the delta T. However, if you have that same piece in intimate contact and constrained and add a delta T to it, you will most certainly induce stresses.In summary, the Ideal Gas law can be used to calculate temperature given pressure, volume, etc. for gases, but there is no equivalent equation that relates temperature, pressure and volume for solids. Borek's site provides helpful information on compressibility and thermal expansion.
  • #1
Mechanic
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PV=nRT for solids??

For a perfect gas PV = nRT. This is a very handy little equation that allows determination of temperature given pressure, volume, etc. for gasses, but is there some equivalent equation that relates temperature, pressure and volume for solids?
Thanks
 
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  • #2
Although the ideal gas law can be derived from statistical physics for many real gases it is just a linearization. I’d probably write something like:

PoVo=Z R To
Z=(Zo+(dZ/dTo)dTo+(dZ/dVo)dVo+(dZ/dPo)dPo )

Where R is the ideal gas constant
V is the molar volume

The Wikipedia article on compressibility may give more insight.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Compressibility
 
  • #3
No.

Or rather - there is no equation of practical value. Just like with solutions. You need a lot of tables with experimental coefficients to use these equations.
 
  • #4
Borek said:
No.

Or rather - there is no equation of practical value. Just like with solutions. You need a lot of tables with experimental coefficients to use these equations.

Borek
--
http://www.chembuddy.com
http://www.ph-meter.info

Yeah but these things are often liberalized. For instance the spring coefficient or the coefficient of thermal expansion.
 
  • #5
Yes, they are linearized - but still you have to find coefficients for your material in experiment (or tables).

Ideal gas equation gives reasonably good results regardless of the gas used for the wide range of PT - using only one universal constant. There is no one universal constant for solids and liquids nor one universal equation that'll not use experimentally determined parameter. I bet that's the answer OP was looking for. Could be I am wrong.
 
  • #6
Maybe I should start differently...according to the Ideal Gas law, for a given amount of gas at constant volume the temperature will increase if P is increased. Is the same thing true of a solid?
 
  • #7
Mechanic said:
Maybe I should start differently...according to the Ideal Gas law, for a given amount of gas at constant volume the temperature will increase if P is increased. Is the same thing true of a solid?
No. However you do need to state the entire situation in which you are looking. For example, if you have a piece of steel that is sitting by itself and you raise the temperature, there will be no increase in stress due to the delta T. However, if you have that same piece in intimate contact and constrained and add a delta T to it, you will most certainly induce stresses.

In what I think is the spirit of your question, the answer is it is not applicable. That is why it is referred to as the ideal GAS law.
 
  • #8
Mechanic said:
Maybe I should start differently...according to the Ideal Gas law, for a given amount of gas at constant volume the temperature will increase if P is increased. Is the same thing true of a solid?

No, because solids are considered to have a "definite" volume, since their particles are tightly packed together.

Here's an example: If you cook a steak in the oven at, for example, three times room temperature, does the steak expand to three times its size? With solids and liquids, the densities must be used to convert to moles, while temperature and pressure have little effect on the volume.
 
  • #9
according to the Ideal Gas law, for a given amount of gas at constant volume the temperature will increase if P is increased. Is the same thing true of a solid?

That's an interesting question. I wonder... In most (if not all) cases when you increase pressure volume will decrease. That means some work was done on the object - this work is PdV and it most likely increased object temperature (even if the process is isothermic work was done, just the heat was transferred outisde). So in a way it is the same for solids as for gas, although you will need very high pressures for this effect to be observable.
 
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  • #10
Alienjoey said:
No, because solids are considered to have a "definite" volume, since their particles are tightly packed together.

Here's an example: If you cook a steak in the oven at, for example, three times room temperature, does the steak expand to three times its size? With solids and liquids, the densities must be used to convert to moles, while temperature and pressure have little effect on the volume.

Maybe at zero k but the vibration of the molecules causes phonons to travel within the solid which behave like an ideal gas. The vibration of the molecules (related to temperature) determines the average distance between molecules related to volume.
 
  • #11
For the posters answering "no":

[tex]\left(\frac{\partial T}{\partial P}\right)_V=-\left(\frac{\partial V}{\partial P}\right)_T\left(\frac{\partial V}{\partial T}\right)_P^{-1}=\beta/\alpha=(\mathrm{compressibility})/ (\mathrm{volumetric}\,\mathrm{thermal} \,\mathrm{expansion}\,\mathrm{coefficient})\neq 0[/tex]

May be small for a solid, but not zero.
 
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FAQ: Solving PV=nRT for Solids - How to Determine Temp?

What is the equation PV=nRT used for?

The equation PV=nRT is known as the ideal gas law and is used to relate the pressure (P), volume (V), amount of substance (n), and temperature (T) of an ideal gas.

How is the ideal gas law modified for solids?

For solids, the ideal gas law is modified to account for the fact that the particles are not free to move and therefore do not behave like ideal gases. The equation becomes PV=nRT + b, where b is a constant that accounts for the volume of the solid particles.

How do you determine the temperature of a solid using the ideal gas law?

To determine the temperature of a solid using the ideal gas law, you need to know the values of pressure, volume, amount of substance, and the value of the constant R. Then, rearrange the equation to solve for T: T = (PV - b) / (nR).

What are the limitations of using the ideal gas law for solids?

The ideal gas law is only an approximation for solids and may not accurately predict the behavior of real solids. This is because it assumes that the particles of the solid are point masses with no volume, and that there are no intermolecular forces between the particles.

Can the ideal gas law be used for all types of solids?

No, the ideal gas law is only applicable for solids that are close to ideal gases in behavior. This means that the particles of the solid must be small and far apart, and the intermolecular forces must be weak. For solids that do not meet these criteria, other equations and models must be used to determine the temperature.

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