Direct determination of the repulsive potential between helium atoms

Abstract

The repulsive potential between two helium atoms in the reduced energy range of 300–1500°K is obtained by an inverse Laplace transform of the experimental results for the second virial coefficient of Yntema and Schneider for the same range of temperature. The potential obtained agrees well with the quantal calculations of Phillipson. A relation between the melting pressure at high temperatures and the second virial coefficient is shown to provide a useful method of estimating the former.