Johannes R. R. H. van der Waals

Johannes R. R. van der Waals was a physicist who developed a model to better understand how gases and liquids behave. He introduced the idea that particles in these states of matter have volume and attract each other, which explains why gases liquefy under pressure and why liquids have surface tension. His work led to the van der Waals equation, a more accurate way to describe real gases compared to idealized models. This has important implications in physics and chemistry, helping us understand phenomena like condensation and the properties of liquids and gases more precisely.