Question

Which of the noble gases other than radon would you expect to depart most readily from ideal behavior? use the density data in table 7.8 in the textbook to show evidence in support of your answer?

Answer 1

An ideal gas is one in which the gas molecules do not interact with each other, hence intermolecular forces of attraction is negligible. For this to occur, the pressure must be low and temperature is high so that the volume or space between molecules is very large. This can be taken from the ideal gas equation:

PV = nRT

where an increase in temperature and decrease in pressure makes the volume increase

 

So a noble gas other than radon which would depart most readily from ideal gas behaviour must have also a high density. From the tables, this would be Xenon.