Utility functions and constants

This module contains a few utility functions and constants that are used in Machball.

machball.utils.amu = 1.66e-27

Atomic mass unit in kg

machball.utils.kB = 1.38e-23

Boltzmann constant in SI units

machball.utils.vth(T, M)

Mean thermal velocity

Calculate the mean thermal velocity, defined as:

\[v_{th} = \sqrt{\frac{8k_BT}{M}}\]

Parameters:

• T (float) – Temperature in K
• M (float) – Molecular mass in atomic mass units

Returns:

Mean thermal velocity

Return type:

float