Johannes Diderik van der Waals facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Johannes van der Waals
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Waals in 1910
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| Born | 23 November 1837 Leiden, Netherlands
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| Died | 8 March 1923 (aged 85) Amsterdam, Netherlands
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| Alma mater | University of Leiden |
| Known for | Laying the foundations for modern molecular physics (molecular theory) Originating modern theory of intermolecular forces Law of corresponding states Real gas law Van der Waals forces Van der Waals equation of state Van der Waals radius Van der Waals surface Van der Waals molecule |
| Relatives | Joan van der Waals (first cousin, twice removed) |
| Awards | Nobel Prize for Physics (1910) |
| Scientific career | |
| Fields | Theoretical physics, thermodynamics |
| Institutions | University of Amsterdam |
| Doctoral advisor | Pieter Rijke |
| Doctoral students | Diederik Korteweg Willem Hendrik Keesom |
| Influences | Rudolf Clausius Ludwig Boltzmann Josiah Willard Gibbs Thomas Andrews |
| Influenced | Heike Kamerlingh Onnes Willem Hendrik Keesom Peter Debye Zygmunt Florenty Wróblewski James Dewar Fritz London John Shipley Rowlinson Modern molecular science (including molecular physics and molecular dynamics) Cryogenics |
Johannes Diderik van der Waals (born November 23, 1837 – died March 8, 1923) was a Dutch scientist. He was a physicist who studied how heat and energy work (thermodynamics). He is famous for his important ideas about how gases and liquids behave.
Van der Waals started his career as a school teacher. Later, in 1877, he became the first physics professor at the University of Amsterdam. In 1910, he won the Nobel Prize in Physics for his work on how gases and liquids change their state.
His name is well-known for the Van der Waals equation. This equation helps explain how gases act and how they can turn into liquids. His name is also linked to Van der Waals forces. These are weak forces that pull molecules together. You might also hear about Van der Waals molecules (small groups of molecules held by these forces) and Van der Waals radii (the size of molecules). A famous scientist, James Clerk Maxwell, once said that Van der Waals's name would soon be very important in the study of molecules.
In 1873, Van der Waals wrote his important thesis. He noticed that real gases don't always act like "ideal" gases. He believed this was because molecules in gases interact with each other. He was the first to suggest an equation that considered molecules taking up space. At that time, many scientists didn't fully believe in the existence of molecules. They often thought liquids and gases were completely different. But Van der Waals's work helped prove that molecules are real. It also helped scientists figure out their size and how strongly they attract each other. His new ideas changed how people studied the behavior of gases and liquids.
Van der Waals's work had a huge impact on modern physics. By adding ideas about molecule size and attraction to his equation, he set the stage for how we study molecules today. Now, it's a basic rule that things like molecule size, shape, and attraction are key to understanding how liquids and gases behave. His equation also helped predict when gases would turn into liquids. Because of his work, scientists were able to turn gases like nitrogen, oxygen, hydrogen, and helium into liquids. This was a big step in science! For example, Heike Kamerlingh Onnes was inspired by Van der Waals. In 1908, Onnes was the first to make liquid helium. This led to his discovery of superconductivity in 1911.
Contents
Life Story of Johannes van der Waals
Early Life and Learning
Johannes Diderik van der Waals was born on November 23, 1837, in Leiden, Netherlands. He was the oldest of ten children. His father was a carpenter. Johannes went to a school for "advanced primary education" and finished when he was fifteen. After that, he became a teacher's helper in an elementary school. Between 1856 and 1861, he studied to become a primary school teacher and even a head teacher.
In 1862, he started attending lectures at the university in Leiden. He studied mathematics, physics, and astronomy. He couldn't be a regular student because he hadn't studied classical languages. However, Leiden University allowed outside students to take a few courses each year. In 1863, the Dutch government started new secondary schools (HBS). Van der Waals, who was a head teacher then, wanted to teach math and physics at these new schools. He spent two years studying in his free time for the exams.
In 1865, he became a physics teacher in Deventer. A year later, in 1866, he got a teaching job in The Hague. This city was close enough to Leiden for him to continue his university courses. In September 1865, Van der Waals married Anna Magdalena Smit, who was eighteen years old.
Becoming a Professor
Van der Waals still needed to know classical languages to become a regular university student. But the rules changed! The education minister could now allow people to skip the classical language requirement. Van der Waals got this special permission. He then passed the exams needed for doctoral studies in physics and mathematics.
On June 14, 1873, he presented his doctoral thesis at Leiden University. His thesis was about how gases and liquids are connected. In it, he introduced the ideas of how much space molecules take up and how they attract each other. His advisor was Pieter Rijke.
In September 1877, Van der Waals became the first professor of physics at the new University of Amsterdam. Two of his famous colleagues there were Jacobus Henricus van 't Hoff (a chemist) and Hugo de Vries (a biologist). Van der Waals stayed at the University of Amsterdam until he retired at age 70. His son, Johannes Diderik van der Waals, Jr., who was also a physicist, took over his position. In 1910, at 72, Van der Waals received the Nobel Prize in physics. He passed away on March 8, 1923, when he was 85.
Van der Waals's Scientific Discoveries
Understanding Heat and Matter
Van der Waals was most interested in thermodynamics, which is the study of heat and energy. He was inspired by the work of Rudolf Clausius and later by James Clerk Maxwell, Ludwig Boltzmann, and Josiah Willard Gibbs. Clausius's ideas made Van der Waals think about experiments done by Thomas Andrews. Andrews had shown in 1869 that fluids have "critical temperatures." This means there's a temperature above which a gas cannot be turned into a liquid, no matter how much pressure you apply.
In his 1873 thesis, Van der Waals explained these critical temperatures. He showed that gases and liquids are really just different forms of the same substance. This thesis was a huge step forward in physics. Even James Clerk Maxwell praised it in the journal Nature.
The Famous Equation
In his thesis, Van der Waals created the equation that now carries his name. This equation helped explain how gases and liquids can continuously change into each other. It showed that both phases are fundamentally the same. When he created his equation, Van der Waals believed that molecules existed and that they had a certain size and attracted each other. Since he was one of the first to suggest such a force between molecules, it is now called a Van der Waals force.
The Law of Corresponding States
Another important discovery by Van der Waals was the Law of Corresponding States in 1880. This law showed that his equation could be written in a simpler form. This simpler form could apply to all substances! It helped guide experiments that led to the liquefaction (turning into liquid) of hydrogen by James Dewar in 1898. It also helped Heike Kamerlingh Onnes liquefy helium in 1908.
Solutions and Capillarity
In 1890, Van der Waals also wrote about the "Theory of Binary Solutions." He connected his equation to the Second Law of Thermodynamics. This helped him create a visual way to show his ideas, like a map of how different phases of matter behave.
Van der Waals also developed a theory about capillarity. This is how liquids move up narrow tubes, like water moving up a plant stem. Unlike earlier ideas, Van der Waals used a thermodynamics approach. This was a new way of thinking at the time.
Personal Life
Johannes van der Waals married Anna Magdalena Smit in 1865. They had three daughters (Anne Madeleine, Jacqueline E., Johanna Diderica) and one son, Johannes Diderik van der Waals, Jr. His son also became a physicist at the University of Amsterdam. His daughter Jacqueline became a well-known poet.
Sadly, his wife died from tuberculosis in 1881 when she was only 34. Van der Waals was very sad and never remarried. He was so affected by her death that he didn't publish any new scientific work for about ten years. He passed away in Amsterdam on March 8, 1923, a year after his daughter Jacqueline died.
Honors and Awards
Besides winning the 1910 Nobel Prize in Physics, Van der Waals received many other honors. He was given an honorary doctorate from the University of Cambridge. He became an Honorary Member of several important groups, including the Imperial Society of Naturalists of Moscow, the Royal Irish Academy, and the American Philosophical Society (1916). He was also a member of the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences from 1875 to 1912.
A small planet, 32893 van der Waals, is named after him to honor his contributions to science.
See also
In Spanish: Johannes van der Waals para niños
- Van der Waals equation
- Van der Waals strain
- Van der Waals radius
- Van der Waals force
- Redlich–Kwong equation of state
- Peng–Robinson equation of state
