Question

An electron and a proton each have a thermal kinetic energy of 3kBT/2. Calculate the de Broglie wavelength of each particle at a temperature of 1800 K. (kb is Boltzmann's constant, 1.38x10^-23 J/K). (1) Wavelength of the electron = ____ m (2) Wavelength of the proton = ______ m

Answer 1

Answer:

Given:

Thermal Kinetic Energy of an electron, $KE_{t} = \frac{3}{2}k_{b}T$

$k_{b} = 1.38\times 10^{- 23} J/k$ = Boltzmann's constant

Temperature, T = 1800 K

Solution:

Now, to calculate the de-Broglie wavelength of the electron, $\lambda_{e}$:

$\lambda_{e} = \frac{h}{p_{e}}$

$\lambda_{e} = \frac{h}{m_{e}{v_{e}}$              (1)

where

h = Planck's constant = $6.626\times 10^{- 34}m^{2}kg/s$

$p_{e}$ = momentum of an electron

$v_{e}$ = velocity of an electron

$m_{e} = 9.1\times 10_{- 31} kg$ = mass of electon

Now,

Kinetic energy of an electron = thermal kinetic energy

$\frac{1}{2}m_{e}v_{e}^{2} = \frac{3}{2}k_{b}T$

$}v_{e} = \sqrt{2\frac{\frac{3}{2}k_{b}T}{m_{e}}}$

$}v_{e} = \sqrt{\frac{3\times 1.38\times 10^{- 23}\times 1800}{9.1\times 10_{- 31}}}$

$v_{e} = 2.86\times 10^{5} m/s$                    (2)

Using eqn (2) in (1):

$\lambda_{e} = \frac{6.626\times 10^{- 34}}{9.1\times 10_{- 31}\times 2.86\times 10^{5}} = 2.55 nm$

Now, to calculate the de-Broglie wavelength of proton, $\lambda_{e}$:

$\lambda_{p} = \frac{h}{p_{p}}$

$\lambda_{p} = \frac{h}{m_{p}{v_{p}}$                             (3)

where

$m_{p} = 1.6726\times 10_{- 27} kg$ = mass of proton

$v_{p}$ = velocity of an proton

Now,

Kinetic energy of a proton = thermal kinetic energy

$\frac{1}{2}m_{p}v_{p}^{2} = \frac{3}{2}k_{b}T$

$}v_{p} = \sqrt{2\frac{\frac{3}{2}k_{b}T}{m_{p}}}$

$}v_{p} = \sqrt{\frac{3\times 1.38\times 10^{- 23}\times 1800}{1.6726\times 10_{- 27}}}$

$v_{p} = 6.674\times 10^{3} m/s$                               (4)                    

Using eqn (4) in (3):

$\lambda_{p} = \frac{6.626\times 10^{- 34}}{1.6726\times 10_{- 27}\times 6.674\times 10^{3}} = 5.94\times 10^{- 11} m = 0.0594 nm$