Computerized three-dimensional illustration of gas equations

Abstract

Illustrations of Gas EquationsStudents in chemistry have great trouble visualizing three-dimensional data in their minds without the use of models or illustrations. Until recently, a three-dimensional surface viewed from various perspectives could be drawn only by a very talented draftsman.SURFACE II, a graphics system developed by the Kansas Geological Survey, has the capability of taking threedimensional data and plotting it to produce a perspective block diagram (also referred to as a fishnet plot). This graphics system has the capability of plotting the surface from different angles and/or different elevations by altering only two parameters in the computer program. This routine was used to plot examples of the van der Waals' and ideal gas law equations. Gas Equations Above the Critical TemperatureIn working with the gas laws, students very rarely are required to have a knowledge of the true shape of threedimensional data. Figure 1 illustrates the relationship between pressure, volume, and temperature in the ideal gas law above the critical temperature of the gas. From eqn.

Equations of State and Phase Diagrams

“…Thus, the full representation of a simple EoS is a threedimensional image, encompassing the three variables. Threedimensional models (3)(4)(5)(6) and diagrams (7 ) of single-phase systems are not uncommonly found (Fig. 1).…”