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Constants

Useful Constants

  • speed of light (c) = 3.0 x 108 m/s

  • Planck's Constant (h) = 6.626 x 10-34 Joules second

  • Charge of an electron (q) = 1.602 x 10-19 coulombs

Useful Units

  • frequency = cycles/second (Hz)

  • wavelength = length (m)

  • volt = a unit of potential of electric field, such that that it takes 1 Joule to push a charge of 1 Coulomb across 1 volt

Conversion Factors

  • 1 angstrom (A) = 1 x 10-10 meters (often used for the optical region of the spectrum)

  • 1 KeV = 1,000 eV = 1.6 x 10-16 Joules




 

A service of the High Energy Astrophysics Science Archive Research Center (HEASARC), Dr. Andy Ptak (Director), within the Astrophysics Science Division (ASD) at NASA/GSFC

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