The words corresponding states thus take a perfectly precise
signification. Corresponding states are those for which the numerical
values of the pressure, volume, and temperature, expressed by taking
as units the values corresponding to the critical point, are equal;
and, in corresponding states any two fluids have exactly the same
properties.
M. Natanson, and subsequently P. Curie and M. Meslin, have shown by
various considerations that the same result may be arrived at by
choosing units which correspond to any corresponding states; it has
also been shown that the theorem of corresponding states in no way
implies the exactitude of Van der Waals' formula. In reality, this is
simply due to the fact that the characteristic equation only contains
three constants.
The philosophical importance and the practical interest of the
discovery nevertheless remain considerable. As was to be expected,
numbers of experimenters have sought whether these consequences are
duly verified in reality. M. Amagat, particularly, has made use for
this purpose of a most original and simple method.
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