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De Broglie thermal wavelength

  • Page ID
    5664
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    The thermal de Broglie wavelength is roughly the average de Broglie wavelength of the gas particles in an ideal gas at the specified temperature. It is defined as

    \[\Lambda= \sqrt{\frac{h^2}{2\pi mk_BT}} \nonumber\]

    where

    • \(h\) is the Planck constant
    • \(m\) is the mass
    • \(k_B\) is the Boltzmann constant
    • \(T\) is the temperature.

    References

    1. Louis-Victor de Broglie "On the Theory of Quanta" Thesis (1925)

    Related reading

    • Zijun Yan, "General thermal wavelength and its applications", Eur. J. Phys. 21 pp. 625-631 (2000)

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