The Thermal Conductivity of Organic Vapours: The Influence of Molecular Interaction

A study has been made of the thermal conductivities of a number of simple organic vapours at various pressures and temperatures. The measurements indicate that the variation of conductivity with pressure is a function of gas imperfection ; for substances with appreciable dipole interaction the effect is large, but for other substances where gas imperfection involves only van der Waals forces, the effect is much less. In all cases it is probable that the change in specific beat of the vapour with pressure is the main cause of the observed conductivity variation.