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MEAN FREE
MARGIE'S TRAVEL

PATH
M U H A F I Z M U S T H A FA

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What is it?

The mean free path is the typical

distance traveled by a molecule before it
collides with another air molecule or the
average distance between two successive
collisions.

• Treat molecules as spheres with radius, d

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• If the distance between the centers of the

MEAN FREE

molecule comes to be d or less than d, then

MARGIE'S

it’ll collide with one another.

• The mean free path is independent of

temperature

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d
MEAN FREE
MARGIE'S TRAVEL
PATH

Focus on one molecule (say a red one) flying

through a background of other molecules
(say blue ones).

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Note: Molecules are

<v>=Average velocity of reference considered to be at
particle rest (apart from the
reference molecule
L= obviously).
Miss Hit<v>Δt
 Hit
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 Hit
MEAN FREE

 Miss
MARGIE'S

The red molecule will collide with any molecules whose centers lie
within the cylinder.

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No Collision
MEAN FREE
MARGIE'S TRAVEL
PATH

Red Molecule R sweeps out a

Cylinder of volume πd2