Equation of state for mercury: revisited

An analytical equation of state by Song and Mason is developed to calculate the PVT properties of mercury. The equation of state is based on the statistical-mechanical perturbation theory of hard convex bodies and can be written as a fifth-order polynomial in the density. There exists three temperature-dependent parameters in the equation of state; the second virial coefficient, an effective molecular volume, and a scaling factor for the average contact pair distribution function of hard convex bodies. The temperature-dependant parameters have been calculated using corresponding-states correlations based on the surface tension and the liquid density at the normal boiling point. Employing the present equation of state, we have calculated the PVT properties of mercury over a wide range of temperatures and pressures. The average absolute deviation for the calculated density of mercury in the saturation and compressed states is 1.09%.