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Relativistic Runaway Electron Avalanche
A relativistic runaway electron avalanche (RREA) is an avalanche growth of a population of relativistic electrons driven through a material (typically air) by an electric field. RREA has been hypothesized to be related to lightning initiation, terrestrial gamma-ray flashes, sprite lightning, and spark development. RREA is unique as it can occur at electric fields an order of magnitude lower than the dielectric strength of the material. Mechanism When an electric field is applied to a material, free electrons will drift slowly through the material as described by the electron mobility. For low-energy electrons, faster drift velocities result in more interactions with surrounding particles. These interactions create a form of friction that slow the electrons down. Thus, for low-energy cases, the electron velocities tend to stabilize. At higher energies, above about 100 keV, these collisional events become less common as the mean free path of the electron rises. These higher-energ ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
RREA Monte Carlo Simulation
A relativistic runaway electron avalanche (RREA) is an avalanche growth of a population of relativistic electrons driven through a material (typically air) by an electric field. RREA has been hypothesized to be related to lightning initiation, terrestrial gamma-ray flashes, sprite lightning, and spark development. RREA is unique as it can occur at electric fields an order of magnitude lower than the dielectric strength of the material. Mechanism When an electric field is applied to a material, free electrons will drift slowly through the material as described by the electron mobility. For low-energy electrons, faster drift velocities result in more interactions with surrounding particles. These interactions create a form of friction that slow the electrons down. Thus, for low-energy cases, the electron velocities tend to stabilize. At higher energies, above about 100 keV, these collisional events become less common as the mean free path of the electron rises. These higher-energ ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Electronvolt
In physics, an electronvolt (symbol eV, also written electron-volt and electron volt) is the measure of an amount of kinetic energy In physics, the kinetic energy of an object is the energy that it possesses due to its motion. It is defined as the work needed to accelerate a body of a given mass from rest to its stated velocity. Having gained this energy during its acc ... gained by a single electron accelerating from rest through an Voltage, electric potential difference of one volt in vacuum. When used as a Units of energy, unit of energy, the numerical value of 1 eV in joules (symbol J) is equivalent to the numerical value of the Electric charge, charge of an electron in coulombs (symbol C). Under the 2019 redefinition of the SI base units, this sets 1 eV equal to the exact value Historically, the electronvolt was devised as a standard unit of measure through its usefulness in Particle accelerator#Electrostatic particle accelerators, electrostatic particle accel ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Atmospheric Electricity
Atmospheric electricity is the study of electrical charges in the Earth's atmosphere (or that of another planet). The movement of charge between the Earth's surface, the atmosphere, and the ionosphere is known as the global atmospheric electrical circuit. Atmospheric electricity is an interdisciplinary topic with a long history, involving concepts from electrostatics, atmospheric physics, meteorology and Earth science. Thunderstorms act as a giant battery in the atmosphere, charging up the electrosphere to about 400,000 volts with respect to the surface. This sets up an electric field throughout the atmosphere, which decreases with increase in altitude. Atmospheric ions created by cosmic rays and natural radioactivity move in the electric field, so a very small current flows through the atmosphere, even away from thunderstorms. Near the surface of the Earth, the magnitude of the field is on average around 100 V/m. Atmospheric electricity involves both thunderstorms, which crea ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Lightning
Lightning is a naturally occurring electrostatic discharge during which two electric charge, electrically charged regions, both in the atmosphere or with one on the land, ground, temporarily neutralize themselves, causing the instantaneous release of an average of one Joule, gigajoule of energy. This discharge may produce a wide range of electromagnetic radiation, from heat created by the rapid movement of electrons, to brilliant flashes of visible light in the form of black-body radiation. Lightning causes thunder, a sound from the shock wave which develops as gases in the vicinity of the discharge experience a sudden increase in pressure. Lightning occurs commonly during thunderstorms as well as other types of energetic weather systems, but volcanic lightning can also occur during volcanic eruptions. The three main kinds of lightning are distinguished by where they occur: either inside a single Cumulonimbus cloud, thundercloud (intra-cloud), between two clouds (cloud-to-cl ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Current TV
Current TV was an American television channel which broadcast from August 1, 2005, to August 20, 2013. Prior INdTV founders Al Gore and Joel Hyatt, with Ronald Burkle, each held a sizable stake in Current TV. Comcast and DirecTV each held a smaller stake. The channel started out as a user-generated content channel with content made by viewers in 15-minute blocks. The channel later switched formats to become an independent news network aimed at progressive politics. Neither format brought the success that Gore and Hyatt had wanted. On January 2, 2013, it was announced that Current TV had been sold by Gore and Hyatt to Qatar-based broadcaster Al Jazeera Media Network. AJMN stated it planned to shut down the Current TV channel, retain its off-air staff, and to launch a new New York City-based channel named Al Jazeera America (using Current's distribution network). Current had operated in the same way with Newsworld International, a predecessor to Current. They also said they planned ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Dark Lightning
A terrestrial gamma-ray flash (TGF), also known as dark lightning, is a burst of gamma rays produced in Earth's atmosphere. TGFs have been recorded to last 0.2 to 3.5 milliseconds, and have energies of up to 20 million electronvolts. It is speculated that TGFs are caused by intense electric fields produced above or inside thunderstorms. Scientists have also detected energetic positrons and electrons produced by terrestrial gamma-ray flashes. Discovery Terrestrial gamma-ray flashes were first discovered in 1994 by BATSE, or Burst and Transient Source Experiment, on the Compton Gamma Ray Observatory, a NASA spacecraft. A subsequent study from Stanford University in 1996 linked a TGF to an individual lightning strike occurring within a few milliseconds of the TGF. BATSE detected only a small number of TGF events in nine years (76), due to it having been constructed to study gamma ray bursts from outer space, which last much longer. In the early 2000s, the Ramaty High Energy ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Joseph Dwyer (physicist)
Joseph R. Dwyer (born 1963) is an American physicist known for his lightning research. He is a professor of physics at the University of New Hampshire. Dwyer received his Ph.D. in physics from the University of Chicago in 1994 and worked on cosmic-ray physics and gamma-ray astronomy as a research scientist at Columbia University and the University of Maryland before joining the faculty at the Florida Institute of Technology in 2000. After moving to Melbourne, Florida, Dwyer became interested in lightning physics and his research now focuses on high-energy radiation production from thunderstorms and lightning. In 2002, Dwyer and collaborators discovered that rocket-triggered lightning produced large quantities of x-rays, allowing for first the time detailed studies of an atmospheric phenomenon known as runaway breakdown. In 2014, Dwyer left the Florida Institute of Technology and joined the University of New Hampshire. Research In 2002 Dwyer, along with colleagues from Florida Insti ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Bremsstrahlung
''Bremsstrahlung'' (), from "to brake" and "radiation"; i.e., "braking radiation" or "deceleration radiation", is electromagnetic radiation produced by the deceleration of a charged particle when deflected by another charged particle, typically an electron by an atomic nucleus. The moving particle loses kinetic energy, which is converted into radiation (i.e., photons), thus satisfying the law of conservation of energy. The term is also used to refer to the process of producing the radiation. ''Bremsstrahlung'' has a continuous spectrum, which becomes more intense and whose peak intensity shifts toward higher frequencies as the change of the energy of the decelerated particles increases. Broadly speaking, ''bremsstrahlung'' or braking radiation is any radiation produced due to the deceleration (negative acceleration) of a charged particle, which includes synchrotron radiation (i.e., photon emission by a relativistic particle), cyclotron radiation (i.e. photon emission by a non ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Cosmic Rays
Cosmic rays are high-energy particles or clusters of particles (primarily represented by protons or atomic nuclei) that move through space at nearly the speed of light. They originate from the Sun, from outside of the Solar System in our own galaxy, and from distant galaxies. Upon impact with Earth's atmosphere, cosmic rays produce showers of secondary particles, some of which reach the surface, although the bulk is deflected off into space by the magnetosphere or the heliosphere. Cosmic rays were discovered by Victor Hess in 1912 in balloon experiments, for which he was awarded the 1936 Nobel Prize in Physics. Direct measurement of cosmic rays, especially at lower energies, has been possible since the launch of the first satellites in the late 1950s. Particle detectors similar to those used in nuclear and high-energy physics are used on satellites and space probes for research into cosmic rays. Data from the Fermi Space Telescope (2013) have been interpreted as evidence ... [...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] |
Friction
Friction is the force resisting the relative motion of solid surfaces, fluid layers, and material elements sliding against each other. There are several types of friction: *Dry friction is a force that opposes the relative lateral motion of two solid surfaces in contact. Dry friction is subdivided into ''static friction'' ("stiction") between non-moving surfaces, and ''kinetic friction'' between moving surfaces. With the exception of atomic or molecular friction, dry friction generally arises from the interaction of surface features, known as asperities (see Figure 1). *Fluid friction describes the friction between layers of a viscous fluid that are moving relative to each other. *Lubricated friction is a case of fluid friction where a lubricant fluid separates two solid surfaces. *Skin friction is a component of drag, the force resisting the motion of a fluid across the surface of a body. *Internal friction is the force resisting motion between the elements making up a so ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Electron Avalanche
An electron avalanche is a process in which a number of free electrons in a transmission medium are subjected to strong acceleration by an electric field and subsequently collide with other atoms of the medium, thereby ionizing them (impact ionization). This releases additional electrons which accelerate and collide with further atoms, releasing more electrons—a chain reaction. In a gas, this causes the affected region to become an Electrical resistivity and conductivity, electrically conductive plasma (physics), plasma. The avalanche effect was discovered by John Sealy Townsend in his work between 1897 and 1901, and is also known as the Townsend discharge. Electron avalanches are essential to the dielectric breakdown process within gases. The process can culminate in corona discharges, streamer discharge , streamers, leader (spark), leaders, or in a electric spark, spark or continuous electric arc, arc that completely bridges the gap between the electrical conductors that a ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
