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Equation 7 · Part 10 · Einstein's Random Walk and the Mathematics of Genetic Drift

multiplication

D=RTN⋅16πkP,D = \frac{RT}{N}\cdot\frac{1}{6\pi k P},
multiplication

What this part means

Multiply the quantities on either side.

Its job in the formula

Multiply the quantities on either side.

The passage around this formula

with the diffusion constant D fixed by measurable quantities. Einstein derived it explicitly, from the balance between the drag on a sphere of radius P in a fluid of viscosity k and the osmotic pressure driving diffusion, as D=RTN⋅16πkPD = \frac{RT}{N}\cdot\frac{1}{6\pi k P}. where R is the gas constant, T the absolute temperature, and N Avogadro’s number [ 1 ] . That last dependency was the trap door: if D could be read off a microscope by timing how far a particle wandered, and every other term in the equation was already known independently, then watching one particle jiggle became a way to count atoms.

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Learn the underlying idea

Multiplication scales one quantity by another. A dot, a cross, or adjacent symbols can indicate a product.

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Sources cited in the surrounding passage

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