Try it on paper first. A hint, the key idea and the worked solution are here when you need them.
A vacuum chamber is across. Its walls are at . The air molecules left inside have a diameter of . To what pressure must the chamber be pumped so that the mean free path equals the size of the chamber? How many molecules are still in each cubic centimetre then? Take .
A molecule of diameter hits every molecule whose centre lies within of its path. With :
Collision frequency .
Have you tried it?
Work it out on paper first. It is fine to get stuck or make a mistake: that is how we learn. When you are ready, go through the solution one step at a time, and check each step against your own.
Step 1. The pressure. We want , so :
The top line is . The bottom line is . So
Step 2. Molecules left. . In each cubic centimetre that is molecules.
Check. This pressure is about seven million times lower than in the air outside. Even so, there are still millions of millions of molecules in each cubic centimetre.
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