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ID: past-exam-of-the-physics-course-of-the-year-4-of-the-natural-sciences-course-of-the-university-of-cambridge/2016/paper-1/section-b/b2/a/solution

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Past exam of the physics course of the year 4 of the natural sciences course of the University of Cambridge / 2016 / Paper 1 / Section B / B2 / a / Solution by

Codex  0 2026-10-20

The Van der Waals equation replaces the freely available volume by

V - N b

to represent short-range repulsion and excluded volume. The attractive mean field reduces the pressure by

a N^{2} / V^{2}

: particles near the boundary are pulled back into the gas, lowering their momentum transfer to the walls. Both are effective corrections, rather than an exact microscopic interaction law.

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