Ab initio pair potential energy curve for the argon atom pair and thermophysical properties for the dilute argon gas. II. Thermophysical properties for low-density argon

Abstract

A recent argon–argon interatomic potential energy curve determined from quantum-mechanical ab initio calculations and described with an analytical representation [B. Jäger, R. Hellmann, E. Bich, and E. Vogel, Mol. Phys. 107, 2181 (2009); 108, 105 (2010)] was used to calculate the most important thermophysical properties of argon governed by two-body interactions. Second pressure, acoustic, and dielectric virial coefficients as well as viscosity and thermal conductivity in the limit of zero density were computed for natural argon from 83 to 10,000 K. The calculated values for the different thermophysical properties are compared with available experimental data and values computed for other argon–argon potentials. This extensive analysis shows that the proposed potential is superior to all previous ones and that the calculated thermophysical property values are accurate enough to be applied as standard values for the complete temperature range of the calculations.

Keywords:

• argon gas property standards
• second pressure virial coefficient
• second acoustic virial coefficient
• second dielectric virial coefficient
• viscosity and thermal conductivity