Molecular Clusters in Imperfect Gases

Abstract

An exact, formal method for calculating the number of physical (as contrasted with Mayer's mathematical) clusters in an imperfect monatomic gas is developed. However, although the equations are exact, the definition of a physical cluster is somewhat arbitrary. This arbitrariness does not affect any of the purely thermodynamic properties of the gas. A particular pair-wise definition of physical clusters is discussed in some detail and compared with Mayer's pair-wise definition of mathematical clusters.