Argon (molar mass ) is at a pressure of and a temperature of

PHYSICS · Multi-part · Fermi University Physics · Thermal, Statistical & Complex Systems · Kinetic theory and transport in gases · Kinetic theory and transport in gases

Thermal Physics, Ch Collisions, mean free path and transport in gases

Problem

Argon (molar mass

39.95\,\mathrm{g\,mol^{-1}}

) is at a pressure of

1.00\times10^{5}\,\mathrm{Pa}

and a temperature of

300\,\mathrm{K}

. Treat it as an ideal gas of hard spheres of diameter

d = 0.34\,\mathrm{nm}

. Argon is monatomic, so each atom has

f = 3

active degrees of freedom. ((a)) Estimate the mean free path. ((b)) Estimate the thermal conductivity of the gas at the mean-free-path level. ((c)) The measured thermal conductivity of argon under these conditions is

0.0177\,\mathrm{W\,m^{-1}\,K^{-1}}

. By what factor does your estimate fall short? Give each answer to two significant figures.

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