This paper describes the first part of an investigation of the thermodynamic properties of gases and gaseous mixtures undertaken a few years ago at the National Physical Laboratory, with the main object of providing data on the relationship between the properties of mixtures and those of the pure constituents. The virial coefficients of carbon dioxide and ethylene have been determined by the series-expansion method over the range —10 to 200 °C, and the representation of the results by several forms of intermolecular potential has been investigated. In the case of ethylene it appears that the second virial coefficient may be represented accurately in terms of a Lennard-Jones 6:12 potential, the parameters of which are determined. In the corresponding representation for carbon dioxide there is a small but systematic discrepancy and evidence is adduced that this may be rectified by the introduction of a quadrupole interaction term on the lines of the theory developed by Pople. The value of the quadrupole moment suggested by this calculation proves to be in fairly close agreement with a recent direct determination. Work on the virial coefficients of mixtures of the two gases will be described in a further paper.
