Solving Radiative Cooling Rate Homework Equation

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Homework Statement


The first part of this question deals with interstellar gas collisions at a certain velocity, and the resultant temperature of the cloud is obtained.

Then this question:
The main coolant has the following radiative loss rate
\Lambda=n_H10^{-28}T_{gas} \text{erg cm}^{-3}\text{s}^{-1}

(i)Write down the equation for the kinetic temperature for the gas.
(ii)How long does it take for the cloud to reach half of the initial impact temperature if the volume remains the same?

Homework Equations


I've found this equation for cooling time
t_c=\frac{3kT_s}{n_H\Lambda(T_s)}
where Ts is the post-shock temperature.

The Attempt at a Solution



The first part is simple enough, just
KE=\frac{1}{2}mv^2=\frac{3}{2}kT

But when I sub in the given value for Lambda into the cooling time equation, the temperatures cancel, leaving
t_c=\frac{3kT_s}{n_H(n_H10^{-28}T_{s})}=\frac{3k}{n_H^2 10^{-28}}

So if I'm looking for the time taken to cool to Ts/2, I have nowhere to sub in, as the cooling time is now independent of temperature.
Where have I gone wrong?
 
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Any ideas?
 
To solve this, I first used the units to work out that a= m* a/m, i.e. t=z/λ. This would allow you to determine the time duration within an interval section by section and then add this to the previous ones to obtain the age of the respective layer. However, this would require a constant thickness per year for each interval. However, since this is most likely not the case, my next consideration was that the age must be the integral of a 1/λ(z) function, which I cannot model.
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