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gazepdapi1
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Problem:
Interstellar space has an average temperature of about 10K and an average density of hydrogen atoms of about one hydrogen atom per cubic meter. Compute the main free path of a hydrogen atom in interstellar space. Take the diameter of an H atom to be 100 pm.
Here is what I did. I first calculated the density.
Density =(pressure)(Na)/RT=(1x10^-11)*(6.022E22)/(8.314*10) = 7.243 E10 m^-3
(I used 1x10^-11 for the pressure in space)
The I used this to find the MFP.
lamda = 1/(root(2)*density*pi*d^2) = 1/(root(2)*7.243E10*pi*(100x10^-12)^2)
So for the mean free path I got .310 nm.
Can someone verify if this is correct.
thanks
nertil
Interstellar space has an average temperature of about 10K and an average density of hydrogen atoms of about one hydrogen atom per cubic meter. Compute the main free path of a hydrogen atom in interstellar space. Take the diameter of an H atom to be 100 pm.
Here is what I did. I first calculated the density.
Density =(pressure)(Na)/RT=(1x10^-11)*(6.022E22)/(8.314*10) = 7.243 E10 m^-3
(I used 1x10^-11 for the pressure in space)
The I used this to find the MFP.
lamda = 1/(root(2)*density*pi*d^2) = 1/(root(2)*7.243E10*pi*(100x10^-12)^2)
So for the mean free path I got .310 nm.
Can someone verify if this is correct.
thanks
nertil