Rms velocity of electron in free space?

[Brennen berkley]

Homework Statement

How many orders of magnitude smaller is the average drift velocity of a hole than the RMS thermal velocity of an electron moving in free space? (Use the law of equipartition to find the RMS thermal velocity of a free electron.)

This is the last part of the problem, I have already found the drift velocity to be 2.5 x 10^-4

Homework Equations

v_rms = √3kT/m
This is for an ideal gas, so I'm not sure if it applies.

The Attempt at a Solution

I know I need to find the energy of an electron, but I can't seem to find anything about how to calculate that in a vacuum, just how to find it based on pressure and temperature.

 

[mfb]

Electrons in free space are close to a perfect gas. You can probably assume room temperature.

 

[Brennen berkley]

Ok, with those assumptions I get 110,000 m/s, which is 9 orders of magnitude higher than the drift velocity. Thanks