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14.1: Numerical Constants

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    Fundamental Constants

    c velocity of light 2.998 × 108 m/s
    \(\varepsilon_{\mathrm{o}}\) permittivity of free space 8.854 × 10-12 F/m
    \(\mu_{\mathrm o}\) permeability of free space 4\(\pi\) × 10-7 H/m
    \(\eta_{\mathrm o}\) characteristic impedance of free space 376.7 \(\Omega\)
    e charge of an electron, (-e.v./Joule) -1.6008 × 10-19 C
    m mass of an electron 9.1066 × 10-31 kg
    mp mass of a proton 1.6725 × 10-27 kg
    h Planck constant 6.624 × 10-34 J⋅s
    k Boltzmann constant 1.3805 × 10-23 J/K
    No Avogadro’s constant 6.022 × 1023 molec/mole
    R Universal gas constant 8. 31 J/mole⋅K

    A.2 Electrical Conductivity σ, S/m

    Silver 6.14 × 107 Monel 0.24 × 107
    Copper 5.80 × 107 Mercury 0.1 × 107
    Gold 4.10 × 107 Sea Water 3 – 5
    Aluminum 3.54 × 107 Distilled Water 2 × 10-4
    Tungsten 1.81 × 107 Bakelite 10-8 – 10-10
    Brass 1.57 × 107 Glass 10-12
    Nickel 1.28 × 107 Mica 10-11 – 10-15
    Iron (pure) 1.0 × 107 Petroleum 10-14
    Steel 0.5 – 1.0 × 107 Fused Quartz <2 × 10-17
    Lead 0.48 × 107

    Relative Dielectric Constant ε/εo at 1 MHz

    Vacuum 1.00 Vycor glass 3.8
    Styrofoam (25% filler) 1.03 Low-loss glass 4.1
    Firwood 1.8 – 2.0 Ice 4.15
    Paper 2.0 – 3.0 Pyrex glass 5.1
    Petroleum 2.1 Muscovite (mica) 5.4
    Paraffin 2.1 Mica 5.6 – 6.0
    Teflon 2.1 Magnesium silicate 5.7 – 6.4
    Vaseline 2.16 Porcelain 5.7
    Rubber 2.3 – 4.0 Aluminum oxide 8.8
    Polystyrene 2.55 Diamond 16.5
    Sandy soil 2.6 Ethyl alcohol 24.5
    Plexiglas 2.6 – 3.5 Distilled water 81.1
    Fused quartz 3.78 Titanium dioxide 100

    Relative Permeability μ/μo

    Vacuum 1
    Biological tissue 1
    Cold steel 2,000
    Iron (99.91%) 5,000
    Purified iron (99.95%) 180,000
    mu metal (FeNiCrCu) 100,000
    Supermalloy (FeNiMoMn) 800,000

    This page titled 14.1: Numerical Constants is shared under a CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 license and was authored, remixed, and/or curated by David H. Staelin (MIT OpenCourseWare) via source content that was edited to the style and standards of the LibreTexts platform.