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Results for “PLASMA CONDUCTIVITY”

Search indexed NASA NTRS and DOE OSTI research on propulsion, heat transfer, battery materials and energy systems. Follow report and document links to the original sources.

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At least 91 records · Page 5
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
NASA NTRS1972

Dayside auroral-oval plasma density and conductivity enhancements due to magnetosheath electron precipitation.

Demonstration that magnetosheath electrons precipitating into the dayside auroral oval are a significant source of ionization and consequently will lead to electrical conductivity enhancements within the oval. By assuming that the electrons are maintained isotropic by strong pitch-angle diffusion as they precipitate into the ionosphere, the precipitation heat flux can be simply related to solar-wind energy density and consequently to the level of magnetic activity. For quiet solar-wind conditions, the heat fluxes of 1 to 10 ergs/sq cm/sec expected and observed lead to height-integrated Pedersen conductivity enhancements of 4 to 15 mhos. During magnetic storms the conductivity enhancements could increase by a factor of 3 to 5. Since the precipitating electrons are soft, the Hall conductivity enhancements are smaller than the Pedersen conductivity enhancements. For typical electric fields the computed conductivity enhancements lead to field-aligned currents bounding the enhancements in order-of-magnitude agreement with observation. The topside ionosphere should also have a density enhancement over the auroral oval on the dayside.

Kennel, C. F.↗
NASA NTRS1973

Intercomponent momentum transport and electrical conductivity of collisionless plasma

Based on the Lenard-Balescu equation, the interaction integral for the intercomponent momentum transfer in a two-component, collisionless plasma is evaluated in closed form. The distribution functions of the electrons and ions are represented in the form of nonisothermal, displaced Maxwellians corresponding to the 5-moment approximation. As an application, the transport of electrical current in an electric field is discussed for infrasonic up to sonic electron-ion drift velocities.

Wilhelm, H. E.↗
NASA NTRS1980

Displacement of plasma protein and conduction velocity in rats under action of acceleration forces and hypokinesia

The permeability of capillary vessels was investigated in order to determine if acceleration alone or following prolonged hypokinesia would induce changes in the vascular wall leading to the penetration by l-albumins and/or proteins with larger molecules. In rats undergoing action of +5 Gz accelerations, no increase in vascular permeability, as tested with the use of (Cr-5k)-globulin, was demostrated. In rats immobilized for 4 weeks before centrifugation, rather weak migration of (Cr-51)-globulin from the vessels was observed. Immobilization resulted also in lowering of conduction velocity in the sciatic nerve.

Baranski, S.↗
NASA NTRS1981

The plasma wake of mesosonic conducting bodies. II - An experimental parametric study of the mid-wake ion density peak

An experimental investigation of the disturbed flow field created by conducting bodies in a mesosonic, collisionless plasma stream is reported. The mid-wake region is investigated, where, for bodies of the order of a Debye length in size, the focused ion streams converge to form a significant current density peak on the wake axis. A parametric description is obtained of the behavior of the amplitude, width, and position of this peak. The results also indicate that portions of the axial ion peak are created by additional mechanisms and that body geometry affects the mid-wake structure only when the sheath is sufficiently thin to conform to the shape of the body.

Stone, N. H.↗
NASA NTRS1975

Effective electrical conductivity of a nonuniform plasma

A simple nonuniformity model for calculating effective electrical conductivity and Hall parameter is proposed. The model shows that the effective conductivity can be significantly reduced by nonuniformities in the Hall parameter, even if the local conductivity is uniform.

Nichols, L. D.↗
NASA NTRS1995

A modified thermal conductivity for low density plasma magnetic flux tubes

In response to inconsistencies which have arisen in results from a hydrodynamic model in simulation of high ion temperature (1-2 eV) observed in low density, outer plasmasphere flux tubes, we postulate a reduced thermal conductivity coefficient in which only particles in the loss cone of the quasi-collisionless plasma contribute to the thermal conduction. Other particles are assumed to magnetically mirror before they reach the topside ionosphere and therefore not to remove thermal energy from the plasmasphere. This concept is used to formulate a mathematically simple, but physically limiting model for a modified thermal conductivity coefficient. When this modified coefficient is employed in the hydrodynamic model in a case study, the inconsistencies between simulation results and observations are largely resolved. The high simulated ion temperatures are achieved with significantly lower ion temperatures in the topside ionosphere. We suggest that this mechanism may be operative under the limited low density, refilling conditions in which high ion temperatures are observed.

Comfort, R. H.↗
NASA NTRS1981

Numerical studies of the energy balance in coronal loops

A numerical method is applied to treat the energy balance of quasi-static solar coronal loops, which have been observed to persist for periods much greater than the radiative cooling time. The quasi-static loop model employed takes into account gravity, density-, temperature- or position-dependent energy input, an accurate form of the radiative losses and variable loop cross-sectional area, under assumptions of energy input by coronal heating balanced by radiative and conductive losses, an optically thin plasma, energy conduction along the field lines only and hydrostatic equilibrium. Computations of an emission measure function for various distributions of the energy input and loop geometries are then presented which show that little information on the location of the energy input may be gained from spectral line intensity measurements integrated over a single loop.

Underwood, J. H.↗