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Bohm Diffusion
The diffusion of plasma across a magnetic field was conjectured to follow the Bohm diffusion scaling as indicated from the early plasma experiments of very lossy machines. This predicted that the rate of diffusion was linear with temperature and inversely linear with the strength of the confining magnetic field. The rate predicted by Bohm diffusion is much higher than the rate predicted by classical diffusion, which develops from a random walk within the plasma. The classical model scaled inversely with the square of the magnetic field. If the classical model is correct, small increases in the field lead to much longer confinement times. If the Bohm model is correct, magnetically confined fusion would not be practical. Early fusion energy machines appeared to behave according to Bohm's model, and by the 1960s there was a significant stagnation within the field. The introduction of the tokamak in 1968 was the first evidence that the Bohm model did not hold for all machines. Bohm p ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Diffusion
Diffusion is the net movement of anything (for example, atoms, ions, molecules, energy) generally from a region of higher concentration to a region of lower concentration. Diffusion is driven by a gradient in Gibbs free energy or chemical potential. It is possible to diffuse "uphill" from a region of lower concentration to a region of higher concentration, like in spinodal decomposition. The concept of diffusion is widely used in many fields, including physics (particle diffusion), chemistry, biology, sociology, economics, and finance (diffusion of people, ideas, and price values). The central idea of diffusion, however, is common to all of these: a substance or collection undergoing diffusion spreads out from a point or location at which there is a higher concentration of that substance or collection. A gradient is the change in the value of a quantity, for example, concentration, pressure, or temperature with the change in another variable, usually distance. A change in c ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Mean Free Path
In physics, mean free path is the average distance over which a moving particle (such as an atom, a molecule, or a photon) travels before substantially changing its direction or energy (or, in a specific context, other properties), typically as a result of one or more successive collisions with other particles. Scattering theory Imagine a beam of particles being shot through a target, and consider an infinitesimally thin slab of the target (see the figure). The atoms (or particles) that might stop a beam particle are shown in red. The magnitude of the mean free path depends on the characteristics of the system. Assuming that all the target particles are at rest but only the beam particle is moving, that gives an expression for the mean free path: :\ell = (\sigma n)^, where is the mean free path, is the number of target particles per unit volume, and is the effective cross-sectional area for collision. The area of the slab is , and its volume is . The typical number of st ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Plasma Diffusion
Plasma diffusion across a magnetic field is an important topic in magnetic confinement of fusion plasma. It especially concerns how plasma transport is related to strength of an external magnetic field, B. Classical diffusion predicts 1/B2 scaling, while Bohm diffusion, borne out of experimental observations from the early confinement machines, was conjectured to follow 1/B scaling. Hsu diffusion predicts 1/B3/2 scaling, which is presumably the best confinement scenario in magnetized plasma. See also * Bohm diffusion * Classical diffusion * Hsu diffusion How the plasma transport is reduced by the strength of the external magnetic field is of great concern in studying magnetic confinement of fusion plasma. The plasma diffusion may be classified by the classical diffusion of B−2 scaling, the Bohm d ... References Diffusion Plasma physics {{plasma-stub ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Classical Diffusion
Classical diffusion is a key concept in fusion power and other fields where a plasma is confined by a magnetic field within a vessel. It considers collisions between ions in the plasma that causes the particles to move to different paths and eventually leave the confinement volume and strike the sides of the vessel. The rate of diffusion scales with 1/B2, where B is the magnetic field strength, implies that confinement times can be greatly improved with small increases in field strength. In practice, the rates suggested by classical diffusion have not been found in real-world machines, where a host of previously unknown plasma instabilities caused the particles to leave confinement at rates closer to B, not B2, as had been seen in Bohm diffusion. The failure of classical diffusion to predict real-world plasma behavior led to a period in the 1960s known as "the doldrums" where it appeared a practical fusion reactor would be impossible. Over time, the instabilities were found and addr ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Hsu Diffusion
How the plasma transport is reduced by the strength of the external magnetic field is of great concern in studying magnetic confinement of fusion plasma. The plasma diffusion may be classified by the classical diffusion of B−2 scaling, the Bohm diffusion conjectured to follow the B−1 scaling, and the Hsu diffusion of B−3/2 scaling. Here, B is the external magnetic field. The low-frequency fluctuating electric fields can cause particles to execute the ExB drift. Due to the long range nature of Coulomb interaction, the electric field coherence time is long enough to allow virtually free streaming of particles across the field lines. Thus, when no other decoherence mechanism exists, the transport would be the only mechanism to limit the run of its own course and to result in the Bohm diffusion of 1/B scaling in a 2D like plasma. In a 3D plasma, the parallel decoherence (the decoherence along the field line) is significant enough to reduce the transport of ExB drifts to only th ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Debye Length
In plasmas and electrolytes, the Debye length \lambda_ (also called Debye radius), is a measure of a charge carrier's net electrostatic effect in a solution and how far its electrostatic effect persists. With each Debye length the charges are increasingly electrically screened and the electric potential decreases in magnitude by 1/ e. A Debye sphere is a volume whose radius is the Debye length. Debye length is an important parameter in plasma physics, electrolytes, and colloids (DLVO theory). The corresponding Debye screening wave vector k_=1/\lambda_ for particles of density n, charge q at a temperature T is given by k_^2=4\pi n q^2/(k_T) in Gaussian units. Expressions in MKS units will be given below. The analogous quantities at very low temperatures (T \to 0) are known as the Thomas–Fermi length and the Thomas–Fermi wave vector. They are of interest in describing the behaviour of electrons in metals at room temperature. The Debye length is named after the Dutch-America ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Plasma Parameter
The plasma parameter is a dimensionless number, denoted by capital Lambda, Λ. The plasma parameter is usually interpreted to be the argument of the Coulomb logarithm, which is the ratio of the maximum impact parameter to the classical distance of closest approach in Coulomb scattering. In this case, the plasma parameter is given by: \Lambda = 4\pi n\lambda_\text^3 where * ''n'' is the number density of electrons, * λD is the Debye length. This expression is typically valid for a plasma in which ion thermal velocities are much less than electron thermal velocities. A detailed discussion of the Coulomb logarithm is available in the ''NRL Plasma Formulary'', pages 34–35. Note that the word parameter is usually used in plasma physics to refer to bulk plasma properties in general: see plasma parameters. An alternative definition of this parameter is given by the average number of electrons in a plasma contained within a Debye sphere (a sphere of radius the Debye length). This ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Coulomb's Law
Coulomb's inverse-square law, or simply Coulomb's law, is an experimental law of physics that quantifies the amount of force between two stationary, electrically charged particles. The electric force between charged bodies at rest is conventionally called ''electrostatic force'' or Coulomb force. Although the law was known earlier, it was first published in 1785 by French physicist Charles-Augustin de Coulomb, hence the name. Coulomb's law was essential to the development of the theory of electromagnetism, maybe even its starting point, as it made it possible to discuss the quantity of electric charge in a meaningful way. The law states that the magnitude of the electrostatic force of attraction or repulsion between two point charges is directly proportional to the product of the magnitudes of charges and inversely proportional to the square of the distance between them. Coulomb studied the repulsive force between bodies having electrical charges of the same sign: Coulomb also ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Thermal Fluctuations
In statistical mechanics, thermal fluctuations are random deviations of a system from its average state, that occur in a system at equilibrium.In statistical mechanics they are often simply referred to as fluctuations. All thermal fluctuations become larger and more frequent as the temperature increases, and likewise they decrease as temperature approaches absolute zero. Thermal fluctuations are a basic manifestation of the temperature of systems: A system at nonzero temperature does not stay in its equilibrium microscopic state, but instead randomly samples all possible states, with probabilities given by the Boltzmann distribution. Thermal fluctuations generally affect all the degrees of freedom of a system: There can be random vibrations (phonons), random rotations ( rotons), random electronic excitations, and so forth. Thermodynamic variables, such as pressure, temperature, or entropy, likewise undergo thermal fluctuations. For example, for a system that has an equilibriu ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Guiding Center
In physics, the motion of an electrically charged particle such as an electron or ion in a plasma in a magnetic field can be treated as the superposition of a relatively fast circular motion around a point called the guiding center and a relatively slow drift of this point. The drift speeds may differ for various species depending on their charge states, masses, or temperatures, possibly resulting in electric currents or chemical separation. Gyration If the magnetic field is uniform and all other forces are absent, then the Lorentz force will cause a particle to undergo a constant acceleration perpendicular to both the particle velocity and the magnetic field. This does not affect particle motion parallel to the magnetic field, but results in circular motion at constant speed in the plane perpendicular to the magnetic field. This circular motion is known as the gyromotion. For a particle with mass m and charge q moving in a magnetic field with strength B, it has a frequency ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Eddy (fluid Dynamics)
In fluid dynamics, an eddy is the swirling of a fluid and the reverse current created when the fluid is in a turbulent flow regime. The moving fluid creates a space devoid of downstream-flowing fluid on the downstream side of the object. Fluid behind the obstacle flows into the void creating a swirl of fluid on each edge of the obstacle, followed by a short reverse flow of fluid behind the obstacle flowing upstream, toward the back of the obstacle. This phenomenon is naturally observed behind large emergent rocks in swift-flowing rivers. An eddy is a movement of fluid that deviates from the general flow of the fluid. An example for an eddy is a vortex which produces such deviation. However, there are other types of eddies that are not simple vortices. For example, a Rossby wave is an eddy which is an undulation that is a deviation from mean flow, but doesn't have the local closed streamlines of a vortex. Swirl and eddies in engineering The propensity of a fluid to swirl is used ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Electric Potential
The electric potential (also called the ''electric field potential'', potential drop, the electrostatic potential) is defined as the amount of work energy needed to move a unit of electric charge from a reference point to the specific point in an electric field. More precisely, it is the energy per unit charge for a test charge that is so small that the disturbance of the field under consideration is negligible. Furthermore, the motion across the field is supposed to proceed with negligible acceleration, so as to avoid the test charge acquiring kinetic energy or producing radiation. By definition, the electric potential at the reference point is zero units. Typically, the reference point is earth or a point at infinity, although any point can be used. In classical electrostatics, the electrostatic field is a vector quantity expressed as the gradient of the electrostatic potential, which is a scalar quantity denoted by or occasionally , equal to the electric potential energy o ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
