Ideal-vapor Clausius-Clapeyron approximation 2026-10-14
For liquid–gas phase coexistence, make two distinct approximations: the gas obeys the ideal gas law, , and its molar volume greatly exceeds the liquid molar volume, . Here is the molar gas constant and is the saturation pressure of the pure substance. Substitution into the Clapeyron equation giveswhere is any fixed reference pressure, making the logarithm dimensionless. Constant latent heat is a further approximation, needed for the elementary Integrated Clausius-Clapeyron relation below.[ref]
Statistical Physics by David Tong. §5.1.2, “An Approximate Solution to the Clausius-Clapeyron Equation”: the three assumptions and the exponential solution
The neglected liquid molar volume has a transparent error estimate. If the gas is ideal but is retained, thenThus ignoring the liquid molar volume underestimates this slope by a relative amount . This estimate does not bound errors from treating a real gas as ideal or from freezing . Near a thermodynamic critical point, the gas and liquid molar volumes approach each other and these dilute-vapor assumptions fail.
Vapor pressure 2026-10-14
The equilibrium pressure of a vapor in contact with its liquid or solid at a specified temperature. For pure liquid–gas phase coexistence with negligible interface effects, it is the pressure on their phase coexistence curve. In a gas mixture, distinguish the component's partial pressure from the total pressure; the pure-substance Integrated Clausius-Clapeyron relation does not describe the total pressure of arbitrary humid air.