Dimensional Analysis: Forster Energy Transfer equation

  • #1
HAYAO
Science Advisor
Gold Member
370
233
Homework Statement
I can't seem to get it right.
Relevant Equations
[itex]W_{ET}=\frac{9000\cdot c^{4}\cdot ln10}{128\pi ^{5}\tau _{D}N_{A}n^{4}}\frac{\kappa ^{2}}{R^{6}}\int_{0}^{\infty }\frac{f_{D}(\nu )\varepsilon _{A}(\nu )}{\nu ^{4}}d\nu [/itex]
I'm trying to calculate Forster's Resonance Energy Transfer rate, but I just can't seem to get the units right. I'm trying to teach my students how to calculate them.

Here is the (relatively) original technical note of FRET equation, made by the original author:
https://www.osti.gov/servlets/purl/4626886

Page 55 shows the original equation. The rate is supposed to have the unit of "s-1".
Constants:
[itex]\nu[/itex] is the frequency of light in s-1
[itex]c[/itex] is the speed of light in m s-1
[itex]N_{A}[/itex] is the Avogadro constant in mol-1
[itex]n[/itex] is the refractive index (dimensionless)
[itex]\kappa[/itex] is the dipole-dipole orientation factor (dimensionless)
[itex]\tau _{D}[/itex] is the excited state lifetime of the donor in s
[itex]R[/itex] is the distance between donor and acceptor
[itex]f_{D}(\nu )[/itex] is the normalized emission intensity (dimensionless)
[itex]\varepsilon _{A}(\nu )[/itex] is the absorption coefficient in mol-1 m3 m-1

(Note1: the original equation shows "9" instead of "9000" as I put above. This is because the technical note uses Avogadro constant of #of molecules per millimole instead of molecules per mole.)



If I do a dimensional analysis, it would look like this:
[itex]\frac{(m s^{-1})^{4}}{(s)(mol^{-1})}\frac{1}{(m)^{6}}\int \frac{(mol^{-1}m^{3}m^{-1})}{(s^{-1})^{4}}d\nu [/itex]
[itex]\frac{(m^{4} s^{-4})}{(s)(mol^{-1})}\frac{1}{(m^{6})}\int \frac{(mol^{-1}m^{2})}{(s^{-4})}d\nu [/itex]
[itex]\frac{(s^{-5})}{(mol^{-1})(m^{2})}\int (mol^{-1}m^{2}s^{4})d\nu [/itex]
[itex]\frac{(s^{-5})}{(mol^{-1})(m^{2})}(mol^{-1}m^{2}s^{3})[/itex]
[itex]s^{-2}[/itex]

The rate is supposed to have the unit of "s-1". I must be making some silly mistake here, but I just can't seem to find it. Could somebody point out what I did wrong?
 

Answers and Replies

  • #2
Orodruin
Staff Emeritus
Science Advisor
Homework Helper
Insights Author
Gold Member
20,004
10,651
fD(ν) is the normalized emission intensity (dimensionless)
What is the definition of the normalized emission intensity?
 
  • #3
HAYAO
Science Advisor
Gold Member
370
233
What is the definition of the normalized emission intensity?
Oh snap. You're right. It's not dimensionless. I divide each intensity at certain frequency by the total area of the spectrum, which means the unit is in seconds. Silly me.

You solved the problem for me. Thanks!
 

Suggested for: Dimensional Analysis: Forster Energy Transfer equation

Replies
7
Views
878
Replies
3
Views
534
Replies
11
Views
93
Replies
9
Views
2K
Replies
2
Views
552
Replies
7
Views
188
Replies
1
Views
1K
Top