12 - The ideal gas

Abstract

This chapter focuses particularly on the single-component ideal gas. The thermodynamic properties of an ideal gas are particularly instructive because of their relative simplicity. The ideal gas presents the opportunity of studying the properties of a rather simple fundamental equation. The fundamental equation of an ideal gas cannot be derived within phenomenological thermodynamic theory. It can be obtained in the entropy representation from a complete set of the equations of state and can also be derived with the help of classical statistical mechanics and quantum mechanics. Because there is no explicit fundamental equation of the idea gas in the energy representation, the three equations of state of the ideal gas in the entropy representation has been derived.