Faster than Light: Mystery of Sun & Big Bang

[Trave11er]

Hi everyone!

If Boltzman formula is used to find speed then it gives values bigger than speed of light for electrons at the core of Sun (T=15,7*10^9 K) and for nucleons at the moment of their formation after the Big-Bang (T is bigger than 10^12 K). Why?

 

[Vanadium 50]

The sun is 1000 times cooler than that.

 

[Trave11er]

The sun is 1000 times cooler than that.

Oops, yeah, you are right. But what about the second part?

 

[Doc Al]

You can't use KE = 1/2mv² when speeds are relativistic.

 

[Trave11er]

You can't use KE = 1/2mv² when speeds are relativistic.

All right. But if we take relativistic effects into account can we still use Boltzman formula to estimate speeds in such cases?

 

[Doc Al]

But if we take relativistic effects into account can we still use Boltzman formula to estimate speeds in such cases?

That's a good question. I suspect you can use it to get an estimate, but I don't know how good it would be. The distribution of speeds for relativistic particles is governed by the Maxwell-Juttner distribution, which is more complicated that the Maxwell-Boltzmann distribution. (I've long since forgotten how that's derived. )

 

[Trave11er]

Ok. Thanks a lot.