1/11/12 Mean free path - Wikipedia, the free encclopedia

1/6 en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mean_free_path
Figure1:Slaboftarget
Meanfreepath
FromWikipedia,thefreeencyclopedia
Inphysics,themeanfreepathistheaveragedistancecoveredbyamovingparticle(suchasanatom,amolecule,
aphoton)betweensuccessiveimpacts(collisions)
[1]
whichmodifyitsdirectionorenergyorotherparticle
properties.
Contents
1Derivation
2Meanfreepathinkinetictheory
3Meanfreepathinradiography
4Meanfreepathinparticlephysics
5Meanfreepathinnuclearphysics
6Meanfreepathinoptics
7Meanfreepathinacoustics
8Examples
9Seealso
10References
11Externallinks
Deriation
Imagineabeamofparticlesbeingshotthroughatarget,andconsideran
infinitesimallythinslabofthetarget(Figure1).Theatoms(orparticles)thatmight
stopabeamparticleareshowninred.Themagnitudeofmeanfreepathdepends
onthecharacteristicsofthesystemtheparticleisin:
Where isthemeanfreepath,nisthenumberoftargetparticlesperunitvolume,
andistheeffectivecrosssectionalareaforcollision.
TheareaoftheslabisL
2
anditsvolumeisL
2
d.Thetypicalnumberofstopping
atomsintheslabistheconcentrationntimesthevolume,i.e.,nL
2
d.The
probabilitythatabeamparticlewillbestoppedinthatslabisthenetareaofthe
stoppingatomsdividedbythetotalareaoftheslab.
1/11/12 Mean free path - Wikipedia, the free encclopedia
2/6 en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mean_free_path
whereisthearea(or,moreformally,the"scatteringcrosssection")ofoneatom.
Thedropinbeamintensityequalstheincomingbeamintensitymultipliedbytheprobabilityofbeingstoppedwithin
theslab
dI=Indx
Thisisanordinarydifferentialequation
whosesolutionisknownasBeerLambertlawandhasform ,wherexisthedistancetraveledby
thebeamthroughthetargetandI
0
isthebeamintensitybeforeitenteredthetargetiscalledthemeanfreepath
becauseitequalsthemeandistancetraveledbyabeamparticlebeforebeingstopped.Toseethis,notethatthe
probabilitythataparticleisabsorbedbetweenxandx+dxisgivenby
Thustheexpectationvalue(oraverage,orsimplymean)ofxis
Fractionofparticlesthatwerenotstopped(attenuated)bytheslabiscalledtransmission
wherexisequaltothethicknessoftheslabx=dx.
Meanfreepathinkinetictheor
Inkinetictheorythemeanfreepathofaparticle,suchasamolecule,istheaveragedistancetheparticletravels
betweencollisionswithothermovingparticles.Theformula stillholdsforaparticlewithahigh
velocityrelativetothevelocitiesofanensembleofidenticalparticleswithrandomlocations.If,ontheotherhand,
thevelocitiesoftheidenticalparticleshaveaMaxwelldistribution,thefollowingrelationshipapplies:
[2]
anditmaybeshownthat:
[3]
wherek
B
istheBoltzmannconstant,Tistemperature,pispressure,anddisthediameterofthegasparticles.
1/11/12 Mean free path - Wikipedia, the free encclopedia
3/6 en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mean_free_path
Meanfreepathforphotonsinenergyrangefrom1keVto20MeV
forElementsZ=1to100.Basedondatafrom.
[5]
Thediscontinuities
areduetolowdensityofgaselements.Sixbandscorrespondto
neighborhoodsofsixnoblegases.Alsoshownarelocationsof
Comptonedges.
Followingtablelistssometypicalvaluesforairatdifferentpressures.
Vacuumrange
PressureinhPa
(mbar)
Molecules/cm
3
Molecules/m
3
Meanfreepath
Ambientpressure 1013
2.710
19
2.710
25
68nm
[4]
Lowvacuum 3001
10
19
10
16
10
25
10
22
0.1100m
Mediumvacuum
110
3
10
16
10
13
10
22
10
19
0.1100mm
Highvacuum
10
3
10
7
10
13
10
9
10
19
10
15
10cm1km
Ultrahighvacuum
10
7
10
12
10
9
10
4
10
15
10
10
1km10
5
km
Extremelyhigh
vacuum
<10
12
<10
4
<10
10
>10
5
km
Meanfreepathinradiograph
Ingammarayradiographythemeon [ree
pornofapencilbeamofmonoenergetic
photons,istheaveragedistanceaphoton
travelsbetweencollisionswithatomsofthe
targetmaterial.Itdependsonmaterialand
energyofthephotons:
whereislinearattenuationcoefficient,/
ismassattenuationcoefficientandis
densityofthematerial.Massattenuation
coefficientcanbelookeduporcalculated
foranymaterialandenergycombination
usingNISTdatabases
[6]

[7]
InXrayradiographythecalculationof
meon [ree pornismorecomplicatedsince
photonsarenotmonoenergetic,buthave
somedistributionofenergiescalled
spectrum.Asphotonsmovethroughthe
targetmaterialtheyareattenuatedwith
probabilitiesdependingontheirenergy,as
aresulttheirdistributionchangesinprocess
calledSpectrumHardening.BecauseofSpectrumHardeningmeon [ree pornofXrayspectrumchangeswith
distance.
Sometimespeoplemeasurethicknessofmaterialinnumber o[ meon [ree porns.Materialwiththicknessofone
1/11/12 Mean free path - Wikipedia, the free encclopedia
4/6 en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mean_free_path
meon [ree pornwillattenuate37%(1/e)ofphotons.ThisconceptiscloselyrelatedtoHalfValueLayer(HVL)or
materialwiththicknessofoneHVLwillattenuate50%ofphotons.Standardxrayimageisatransmissionimage,a
minuslogofitissometimesreferredasnumber o[ meon [ree pornsimage.
Meanfreepathinparticlephsics
Inparticlephysicstheconceptofmeanfreepathisnotcommonlyused,replacedinsteadbythesimilarconceptof
attenuationlength.Inparticular,forhighenergyphotons,whichmostlyinteractbyelectronpositronpair
production,theradiationlengthisusedmuchlikethemeanfreepathinradiography.
Meanfreepathinnuclearphsics
Independentparticlemodelsinnuclearphysicsrequiretheundisturbedorbitingofnucleonswithinthenucleus
beforetheyinteractwithothernucleons.BlattandWeisskopf,intheir1952textbook"TheoreticalNuclearPhysics"
(p.778)wrote"Theeffectivemeanfreepathofanucleoninnuclearmattermustbesomewhatlargerthanthe
nucleardimensionsinordertoallowtheuseoftheindependentparticlemodel.Thisrequirementseemstobein
contradictiontotheassumptionsmadeinthetheory...Wearefacinghereoneofthefundamentalproblemsof
nuclearstructurephysicswhichhasyettobesolved."(quotedbyNormanD.Cookin"ModelsoftheAtomic
Nucleus"Ed.2(2010)Springer,inChapter5"TheMeanFreePathofNucleonsinNuclei").
[8]
Meanfreepathinoptics
Ifonetakesasuspensionofnonlightabsorbingparticlesofdiameterdwithavolumefraction.Themeanfree
path
[9]
ofthephotonsis:
whereQ
s
isscatteringefficiencyfactor.Q
s
canbeevaluatednumericallyforsphericalparticlesthankstotheMie
theorycalculation
Meanfreepathinacoustics
Inanotherwiseemptycavity,themeanfreepathofasingleparticlebouncingoffthewallsis:
whereVisvolumeofthecavityandSistotalinsidesurfaceareaofcavity.Thisrelationisusedinthederivationof
theSabineequationinacoustics,usingageometricalapproximationofsoundpropagation.
[10]
Eamples
1/11/12 Mean free path - Wikipedia, the free encclopedia
5/6 en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mean_free_path
Aclassicapplicationofmeanfreepathistoestimatethesizeofatomsormolecules.Anotherimportantapplication
isinestimatingtheresistivityofamaterialfromthemeanfreepathofitselectrons.
Forexample,forsoundwavesinanenclosure,themeanfreepathistheaveragedistancethewavetravelsbetween
reflectionsofftheenclosure'swalls.
Inaerodynamics,themeanfreepathisinthesameorderofmagnitudeastheshockwavethicknessatmach
numbersgreaterthanone.
Seealo
Scatteringtheory
Vacuum
Knudsennumber
Optics
Refeence
1. ^Author:MarionBrnglinghaus,ENS,EuropeanNuclearSociety."Meanfreepath"
(http://www.euronuclear.org/info/encyclopedia/m/meanfeepath.htm).Euronuclear.org.
http://www.euronuclear.org/info/encyclopedia/m/meanfeepath.htm.Retrieved20111108.
2. ^S.ChapmanandT.G.Cowling,Themathematicaltheorofnonuniformgases(http://books.google.com/books?
id=Cbp5JP2OTrwC&pg=PA88),3rd.edition,CambridgeUniversityPress,1990,ISBN052140844X,p.88
3. ^"MeanFreePath,MolecularCollisions"(http://hyperphysics.phyastr.gsu.edu/hbase/kinetic/menfre.html).
Hyperphysics.phyastr.gsu.edu.http://hyperphysics.phyastr.gsu.edu/hbase/kinetic/menfre.html.Retrieved2011
1108.
4. ^Jennings,S(1988)."Themeanfreepathinair".JournalofAerosolScience19(2):159.doi:10.1016/0021
8502(88)902194(http://dx.doi.org/10.1016%2F00218502%2888%29902194).
5. ^"NIST:NoteXRayFormFactorandAttenuationDatabases"
(http://physics.nist.gov/PhysRefData/XrayNoteB.html).Physics.nist.gov.19980310.
http://physics.nist.gov/PhysRefData/XrayNoteB.html.Retrieved20111108.
6. ^Hubbell,J.H.Seltzer,S.M.."TablesofXRayMassAttenuationCoefficientsandMassEnergyAbsorption
Coefficients"(http://physics.nist.gov/PhysRefData/XrayMassCoef/cover.html).NationalInstituteofStandardsand
Technology(NIST).http://physics.nist.gov/PhysRefData/XrayMassCoef/cover.html.RetrievedSeptember2007.
7. ^Berger,M.J.J.H.Hubbell,S.M.Seltzer,J.Chang,J.S.Coursey,R.Sukumar,andD.S.Zucker."XCOM:
PhotonCrossSectionsDatabase"(http://physics.nist.gov/PhysRefData/Xcom/Text/XCOM.html).National
InstituteofStandardsandTechnology(NIST).http://physics.nist.gov/PhysRefData/Xcom/Text/XCOM.html.
RetrievedSeptember2007.
8. ^Cook,NormanD..ModelsoftheAtomicNucleus(http://www.res.kutc.kansaiu.ac.jp/~cook/NVSIndex.html).
Heidelberg:Springer.p.324.ISBN9783642147364.http://www.res.kutc.kansai
u.ac.jp/~cook/NVSIndex.html.
9. ^Mengual,OMeunier,GCayr,IPuech,KSnabre,P(1999)."TURBISCANMA2000:multiplelightscattering
measurementforconcentratedemulsionandsuspensioninstabilityanalysis".Talanta50(2):44556.
doi:10.1016/S00399140(99)001290(http://dx.doi.org/10.1016%2FS00399140%2899%29001290).
PMID18967735(http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/18967735).
10. ^Davis,D.andPatronis,E."SoundSystemEngineering"(http://books.google.com/books?
id=9mAUp5IC5AMC&pg=PA173)(1997)FocalPress,ISBN0240803051p.173
1/11/12 Mean free path - Wikipedia, the free encclopedia
6/6 en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mean_free_path
Eternallinks
GasDynamicsToolbox(http://web.ics.purdue.edu/~alexeenk/GDT/index.html)Calculatemeanfreepath
formixturesofgasesusingVHSmodel
Retrievedfrom"http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Mean_free_path&oldid=468095722"
Categories: Statisticalmechanics Optics
Thispagewaslastmodifiedon28December2011at15:21.
TextisavailableundertheCreativeCommonsAttributionShareAlikeLicenseadditionaltermsmayapply.
SeeTermsofusefordetails.
WikipediaisaregisteredtrademarkoftheWikimediaFoundation,Inc.,anonprofitorganization.