Abstract
The infinite, homogeneous plasmas assumed in the previous chapter for the equilibrium conditions are, of course, highly idealized. Any realistic plasma will have a density gradient, and the plasma will tend to diffuse toward regions of low density. The central problem in controlled thermonuclear reactions is to impede the rate of diffusion by using a magnetic field. Before tackling the magnetic field problem, however, we shall consider the case of diffusion in the absence of magnetic fields. A further simplification results if we assume that the plasma is weakly ionized, so that charged particles collide primarily with neutral atoms rather than with one another. The case of a fully ionized plasma is deferred to a later section, since it results in a nonlinear equation for which there are few simple illustrative solutions. In any case, partially ionized gases are not rare: High-pressure arcs and ionospheric plasmas fall into this category, and most of the early work on gas discharges were neutral dominated, with fractional ionizations between 10-3 and 10-6.
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© 1974 Plenum Press, New York
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Chen, F.F. (1974). Diffusion and Resistivity. In: Introduction to Plasma Physics. Springer, Boston, MA. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4757-0459-4_5
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4757-0459-4_5
Publisher Name: Springer, Boston, MA
Print ISBN: 978-1-4757-0461-7
Online ISBN: 978-1-4757-0459-4
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