<i>Letter to the Editor</i><br>An analogy to the Reynolds number for the neutral gas component of a weak plasma
The Reynolds number <i>Re</i> is used as a metric to assess whether or not a flow may contain turbulence. In a weakly ionised gas with an external electric field imposed, ions exert a drag on the neutral particles. Thus, a component of the neutral motion is attributable to the ion-dr...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
Copernicus Publications
2001-01-01
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| Series: | Annales Geophysicae |
| Online Access: | https://www.ann-geophys.net/19/131/2001/angeo-19-131-2001.pdf |
| Summary: | The Reynolds number <i>Re</i>
is used as a metric to assess whether or not a flow may contain turbulence. In a
weakly ionised gas with an external electric field imposed, ions exert a drag on
the neutral particles. Thus, a component of the neutral motion is attributable
to the ion-drag. An analogy to <i>Re</i> has been proposed in which the
ion-drag-induced velocity contribution to the neutral motion is used. This
analogy thus represents the destabilising effect of the electric field on the
neutral dynamics. Here quantisation of this proposed metric is
investigated.<br><br><b>Key words. </b>Meteorology and atmospheric dynamics
(turbulence) – Ionosphere (ionosphere-atmosphere interactions; electric fields
and currents) |
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| ISSN: | 0992-7689 1432-0576 |