April 24, 2024, 12:06:27 PM
Forum Rules: Read This Before Posting


Topic: Confusion with fraction on Y axis  (Read 1871 times)

0 Members and 1 Guest are viewing this topic.

Offline AdiDex

  • Full Member
  • ****
  • Posts: 305
  • Mole Snacks: +16/-12
  • Gender: Male
Confusion with fraction on Y axis
« on: November 23, 2015, 12:25:00 PM »
While plotting  of maxwell distribution of speed , on y axis we take fraction of molecules having speed u .
Then why define it as  1/N*dN/du ?? Fractions are dimensionless but it has dimension of [LT]-1 ??
only dN/N should be present there .

Offline mjc123

  • Chemist
  • Sr. Member
  • *
  • Posts: 2053
  • Mole Snacks: +296/-12
Re: Confusion with fraction on Y axis
« Reply #1 on: November 24, 2015, 04:49:25 AM »
Because it is a continuous distribution, the fraction with speed equal to exactly u is zero. It is defined so that the fraction with speeds between u and u+du is equal to f(u)du. From this it follows that
f(u) = 1/Nt dN/du, as f(u)du = 1/Nt dN/du du = 1/Nt*dN(u :rarrow: u+du)
where Nt is the total number of molecules (constant) and N is a variable.
f(u) has the dimensions of 1/speed, i.e. [LT-1]-1
« Last Edit: November 24, 2015, 07:27:11 AM by Borek »

Sponsored Links