Intermolecular forces and properties of fluid. I. The automatic calculation of higher virial coefficients and some values of the fourth coefficient for the Lennard-Jones potential

Abstract

The prediction of the virial coefficients for particular intermolecular potentials is generally regarded as a difficult mathematical problem. Methods have only been available for the second and third coefficient and in fact only few calculations have been made for the latter. Here a new method of successive approximation is introduced which has enabled the fourth virial coefficient to be evaluated for the first time for the Lennard-Jones potential. It is particularly suitable for automatic computation and the values reported here have been obtained by the use of the EDSAC I. The method is applicable to other potentials and some values for these will be reported subsequently. The values obtained cannot yet be compared with any experimental results since these have not been measured, but they can be used in the meantime to obtain more accurate experimental values of the lower coefficients.