https://doi.org/10.1140/epjp/s13360-023-04414-2
Regular Article
The mean free time and the mean free path: exact expressions for an (approximately) ideal gas
Department of Fundamental Physics, Faculty of Physics, Alzahra University, Tehran, Iran
Received:
1
August
2023
Accepted:
24
August
2023
Published online:
7
September
2023
The order of magnitudes for the mean free time and the mean free path corresponding to classical (nearly) ideal gases are easy to estimate. The exact values, however, are a little trickier to calculate. To do so, more careful definitions are needed, and one should carefully calculate averages of functions of particle velocities. These are done, and compared with the simpler less-accurate results which are usually used.
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© The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Società Italiana di Fisica and Springer-Verlag GmbH Germany, part of Springer Nature 2023. Springer Nature or its licensor (e.g. a society or other partner) holds exclusive rights to this article under a publishing agreement with the author(s) or other rightsholder(s); author self-archiving of the accepted manuscript version of this article is solely governed by the terms of such publishing agreement and applicable law.