thermal_pressure

plasmapy.formulary.misc.thermal_pressure(T: Unit('K'), n: Unit('1 / m3'))

Return the thermal pressure for a Maxwellian distribution.

Aliases: pth_

Parameters:

• T (Quantity) – The particle temperature in either kelvin or energy per particle.

• n (Quantity) – The particle number density in units convertible to m^-3.

Examples

>>> import astropy.units as u
>>> thermal_pressure(1*u.eV, 1e20/u.m**3)
<Quantity 16.021... Pa>
>>> thermal_pressure(10*u.eV, 1e20/u.m**3)
<Quantity 160.21... Pa>

Returns:

p_th – Thermal pressure.

Return type:

Quantity

Raises:

• TypeError – The temperature or number density is not a Quantity.

• UnitConversionError – If the particle temperature is not in units of temperature or energy per particle.

Notes

The thermal pressure is given by:

\[T_{th} = n k_B T\]