summaryrefslogtreecommitdiff
path: root/source/know/concept/boltzmann-relation
diff options
context:
space:
mode:
authorPrefetch2023-04-02 16:57:12 +0200
committerPrefetch2023-04-02 16:57:12 +0200
commita8d31faecc733fa4d63fde58ab98a5e9d11029c2 (patch)
treeb8d039b13e026fb68f0bed439a2cb73397c35981 /source/know/concept/boltzmann-relation
parent9b9346d5e54244f3e2859c3f80e47f2de345a2ad (diff)
Improve knowledge base
Diffstat (limited to 'source/know/concept/boltzmann-relation')
-rw-r--r--source/know/concept/boltzmann-relation/index.md16
1 files changed, 8 insertions, 8 deletions
diff --git a/source/know/concept/boltzmann-relation/index.md b/source/know/concept/boltzmann-relation/index.md
index b528adf..b3634f3 100644
--- a/source/know/concept/boltzmann-relation/index.md
+++ b/source/know/concept/boltzmann-relation/index.md
@@ -8,15 +8,16 @@ categories:
layout: "concept"
---
-In a plasma where the ions and electrons are both in thermal equilibrium,
-and in the absence of short-lived induced electromagnetic fields,
-their densities $$n_i$$ and $$n_e$$ can be predicted.
+In a plasma where the ions and electrons are in thermal equilibrium,
+in the absence of short-lived induced electromagnetic fields,
+the densities $$n_i$$ and $$n_e$$ can be predicted.
-By definition, a particle in an [electric field](/know/concept/electric-field/) $$\vb{E}$$
+By definition, a charged particle in
+an [electric field](/know/concept/electric-field/) $$\vb{E} = - \nabla \phi$$
experiences a [Lorentz force](/know/concept/lorentz-force/) $$\vb{F}_e$$.
This corresponds to a force density $$\vb{f}_e$$,
such that $$\vb{F}_e = \vb{f}_e \dd{V}$$.
-For the electrons, we thus have:
+For electrons:
$$\begin{aligned}
\vb{f}_e
@@ -74,10 +75,9 @@ $$\begin{aligned}
But due to their large mass,
ions respond much slower to fluctuations in the above equilibrium.
Consequently, after a perturbation,
-the ions spend more time in a transient non-equilibrium state
+the ions spend more time in a non-equilibrium state
than the electrons, so this formula for $$n_i$$ is only valid
-if the perturbation is sufficiently slow,
-such that the ions can keep up.
+if the perturbation is sufficiently slow, such that the ions can keep up.
Usually, electrons do not suffer the same issue,
thanks to their small mass and hence fast response.