The well-known van der Waals equation of state is described in standard textbooks and undergraduate courses in physical chemistry, and in chemical and mechanical engineering. Such descriptions generally outline the origin of terms extra to those found in the perfect gas equation and give typical values of the additional parameters involved. Generally, the various implications for fluids satisfying the equation are not covered to any extent, such coverage being scattered throughout more advanced chemical and engineering literature. The purpose of the present paper is to collect together some of the more important of these. Considered here are the various forms of the equation, vapour pressure implications, the compression factor, thermodynamic aspects, Joule and Joule—Kelvin coefficients and associated inversion phenomena.
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