Plasma Instabilities
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Plasma Instabilities
In plasma physics, plasma stability concerns the stability properties of a plasma in equilibrium and its behavior under small perturbations. The stability of the system determines if the perturbations will grow, oscillate, or be damped out. It is an important consideration in topics such as nuclear fusion and astrophysical plasma. In many cases, a plasma can be treated as a fluid and analyzed with the theory of magnetohydrodynamics (MHD). MHD stability is necessary for stable operation of magnetic confinement fusion devices and places certain operational limits. The beta limit, for example, sets the maximum achievable plasma beta in tokamaks. On the other hand, small-scale plasma instabilities (typically described by kinetic theory), such as the drift wave instability, are believed to be the driving mechanism of turbulent transport in tokamaks, which leads to high rate of particle and energy transport across the confining magnetic fields. Plasma instabilities described by ...
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Unstable , Neutral, And Stable Equilibrium
In dynamical systems instability means that some of the outputs or internal state (controls), states increase with time, without bounds. Not all systems that are not Stability theory, stable are unstable; systems can also be marginal stability, marginally stable or exhibit limit cycle behavior. In structural engineering, a structural beam or column can become unstable when excessive compressive load is applied. Beyond a certain threshold, structural Deflection (engineering), deflections magnify stress (physics), stresses, which in turn increases deflections. This can take the form of buckling or crippling. The general field of study is called structural stability. Atmospheric instability is a major component of all weather systems on Earth. Instability in control systems In the theory of dynamical systems, a state variable in a system is said to be unstable if it evolves without bounds. A system itself is said to be unstable if at least one of its state variables is unstabl ...
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