6533b852fe1ef96bd12ab787
RESEARCH PRODUCT
An experiment on the velocity distribution of thermionic electrons
Onofrio Rosario BattagliaIvan GuastellaClaudio FazioR M Sperandeo-mineosubject
PhysicsPhysics::Instrumentation and DetectorsSettore FIS/08 - Didattica E Storia Della FisicaVacuum tubeGeneral Physics and AstronomyThermionic emissionElectronThermionic emissionMaxwell–Boltzmann distributionCathodeComputational physicslaw.inventionsymbols.namesakeDistribution functionClassical mechanicsMaxwell distributionTriodelawsymbolsPhysics::Accelerator PhysicsDiodedescription
This paper describes an undergraduate experiment that yields the velocity distribution of thermionic electrons by analyzing the I-V characteristics of diodes and triodes. The experiment allows students to focus on the distribution function more than on difficulties arising from the complexity of thermionic emission. By using a simple model, the velocity distribution of thermionic electrons emitted by the vacuum tube cathode can be described by Maxwell’s distribution.
| year | journal | country | edition | language |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2010-12-01 | American Journal of Physics |