Skip to main content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Official websites use .gov
A .gov website belongs to an official government organization in the United States.

Secure .gov websites use HTTPS
A lock ( ) or https:// means you’ve safely connected to the .gov website. Share sensitive information only on official, secure websites.

Estimation of the Enhancement Factor for Mercury in Air

Published

Author(s)

Allan H. Harvey

Abstract

A combination of classical thermodynamics and molecular theory was used to calculate the enhancement factor (ratio of partial pressure to saturated vapor pressure) for liquid mercury in equilibrium with air at standard atmospheric pressure in the temperature range from 0 °C to 40 °C. The resulting enhancement factors range from 1.0021 at 0 °C to 1.0013 at 40 °C. This enhancement is too small in magnitude, and in the wrong direction, to explain a difference that has been noted between equilibrium vapor concentrations implied by the vapor pressure of mercury and concentrations assumed in some calibration procedures.
Citation
International Journal of Thermophysics
Volume
31

Keywords

air, calibration, enhancement factor, mercury, nonideality, second virial coefficient, vapor concentration

Citation

Harvey, A. (2010), Estimation of the Enhancement Factor for Mercury in Air, International Journal of Thermophysics, [online], https://tsapps.nist.gov/publication/get_pdf.cfm?pub_id=904757 (Accessed May 17, 2024)

Issues

If you have any questions about this publication or are having problems accessing it, please contact reflib@nist.gov.

Created March 31, 2010, Updated February 19, 2017