Re-recognition of the ideal gas and real gas

Abstract

Ideal gas is the most fundamental and simple system in thermodynamics, which has extensive applications in energy research and engineering. By reviewing the physical concept of ideal gas, it is found that the current understanding of ideal gas is still inappropriate and ambiguous, making it challenging to reveal the essential difference between ideal and real gases. Therefore, the macro and microscopic definitions and properties of ideal gas need to be reconceptualized. On the microscopic level, an ideal gas is a hypothetical collection of classical masses in irregular motion, which does not involve quantum mechanics; on the macroscopic level, any real gas cannot strictly obey the equation of state of ideal gas. Moreover, the heat capacity is a constant which should be an endogenous attribute of ideal gas model in order to unify the macroscopic and microscopic definitions of ideal gas. Finally, according to the law of heat capacity, the real gas can be divided into three categories: far-ideal, near-ideal, and quasi-ideal. This makes it easier to perform thermodynamic calculations with the assistance of ideal gas. Among them, the far-ideal gas heat capacity is a function of temperature and pressure, the near-ideal gas heat capacity is a single-valued function of temperature, and the quasi-ideal gas heat capacity is a constant.