Blundell Thermal Physics · Problem 7.5

Molecular effusion

Physics — Statistical Mechanics · effusion-collimation-flux

Problem

A gas effuses into a vacuum through a small hole of area AA. The particles are then collimated by passing through a very small circular hole of radius aa, in a screen a distance dd from the first hole. Show that the rate at which particles emerge from the second hole is 14nA⟨v⟩(a2/d2)\tfrac{1}{4}nA\langle v\rangle(a^2/d^2), where nn is the particle density and ⟨v⟩\langle v\rangle is the average speed. (Assume that no collisions take place after the gas effuses through the second hole, and that d≫ad \gg a.)

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