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Coulomb Collision
A Coulomb collision is a binary elastic collision between two charged particles interacting through their own electric field. As with any inverse-square law, the resulting trajectories of the colliding particles is a hyperbolic Keplerian orbit. This type of collision is common in plasmas where the typical kinetic energy of the particles is too large to produce a significant deviation from the initial trajectories of the colliding particles, and the cumulative effect of many collisions is considered instead. The importance of Coulomb collisions was first pointed out by Lev Landau in 1936, who also derived the corresponding kinetic equation which is known as the Landau kinetic equation. Simplified mathematical treatment for plasmas In a plasma, a Coulomb collision rarely results in a large deflection. The cumulative effect of the many small angle collisions, however, is often larger than the effect of the few large angle collisions that occur, so it is instructive to consider th ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Elastic Collision
In physics, an elastic collision occurs between two physical objects in which the total kinetic energy of the two bodies remains the same. In an ideal, perfectly elastic collision, there is no net loss of kinetic energy into other forms such as heat, noise, or potential energy. During the collision of small objects, kinetic energy is first converted to potential energy associated with a repulsive or attractive force between the particles (when the particles move against this force, i.e. the angle between the force and the relative velocity is obtuse), then this potential energy is converted back to kinetic energy (when the particles move with this force, i.e. the angle between the force and the relative velocity is acute). Collisions of atoms are elastic, for example Rutherford backscattering. A useful special case of elastic collision is when the two bodies have equal mass, in which case they will simply exchange their momenta. The ''molecules''—as distinct from atom ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Planck Constant
The Planck constant, or Planck's constant, denoted by h, is a fundamental physical constant of foundational importance in quantum mechanics: a photon's energy is equal to its frequency multiplied by the Planck constant, and the wavelength of a matter wave equals the Planck constant divided by the associated particle momentum. The constant was postulated by Max Planck in 1900 as a proportionality constant needed to explain experimental black-body radiation. Planck later referred to the constant as the "quantum of Action (physics), action". In 1905, Albert Einstein associated the "quantum" or minimal element of the energy to the electromagnetic wave itself. Max Planck received the 1918 Nobel Prize in Physics "in recognition of the services he rendered to the advancement of Physics by his discovery of energy quanta". In metrology, the Planck constant is used, together with other constants, to define the kilogram, the SI unit of mass. The SI units are defined in such a way that, w ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Rutherford Scattering
The Rutherford scattering experiments were a landmark series of experiments by which scientists learned that every atom has a Atomic nucleus, nucleus where all of its positive charge and most of its mass is concentrated. They deduced this after measuring how an alpha particle beam is scattering, scattered when it strikes a thin Foil (metal), metal foil. The experiments were performed between 1906 and 1913 by Hans Geiger and Ernest Marsden under the direction of Ernest Rutherford at the Physical Laboratories of the University of Manchester. The physical phenomenon was explained by Rutherford in a classic 1911 paper that eventually led to the widespread use of scattering in particle physics to study subatomic matter. Rutherford scattering or Coulomb scattering is the elastic scattering of charged particles by the Coulomb interaction. The paper also initiated the development of the planetary Rutherford model of the atom and eventually the Bohr model. Rutherford scattering is now ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
University Of California, Berkeley
The University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley, Berkeley, Cal, or California), is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Berkeley, California, United States. Founded in 1868 and named after the Anglo-Irish philosopher George Berkeley, it is the state's first land-grant university and is the founding campus of the University of California system. Berkeley has an enrollment of more than 45,000 students. The university is organized around fifteen schools of study on the same campus, including the UC Berkeley College of Chemistry, College of Chemistry, the UC Berkeley College of Engineering, College of Engineering, UC Berkeley College of Letters and Science, College of Letters and Science, and the Haas School of Business. It is Carnegie Classification of Institutions of Higher Education, classified among "R1: Doctoral Universities – Very high research activity". Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory was originally founded as par ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Electric-field Screening
In physics, screening is the damping of electric fields caused by the presence of mobile charge carriers. It is an important part of the behavior of charge-carrying mediums, such as ionized gases (classical plasmas), electrolytes, and electronic conductors (semiconductors, metals). In a fluid, with a given permittivity , composed of electrically charged constituent particles, each pair of particles (with charges and ) interact through the Coulomb force as \mathbf = \frac\hat, where the vector is the relative position between the charges. This interaction complicates the theoretical treatment of the fluid. For example, a naive quantum mechanical calculation of the ground-state energy density yields infinity, which is unreasonable. The difficulty lies in the fact that even though the Coulomb force diminishes with distance as , the average number of particles at each distance is proportional to , assuming the fluid is fairly isotropic. As a result, a charge fluctuation at any on ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Subrahmanyan Chandrasekhar
Subrahmanyan Chandrasekhar (; 19 October 1910 – 21 August 1995) was an Indian Americans, Indian-American theoretical physicist who made significant contributions to the scientific knowledge about the structure of stars, stellar evolution and black holes. He was awarded the 1983 Nobel Prize in Physics along with William Alfred Fowler, William A. Fowler for theoretical studies of the physical processes of importance to the structure and evolution of the stars. His mathematical treatment of stellar evolution yielded many of the current theoretical models of the later evolutionary stages of massive stars and black holes. Many concepts, institutions and inventions, including the Chandrasekhar limit and the Chandra X-ray Observatory, Chandra X-Ray Observatory, are named after him. Chandrasekhar worked on a wide variety of problems in physics during his lifetime, contributing to the contemporary understanding of stellar structure, white dwarfs, stellar dynamics, stochastic process, r ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Debye Length
In plasmas and electrolytes, the Debye length \lambda_\text (Debye radius or Debye–Hückel screening length), is a measure of a charge carrier's net electrostatic effect in a solution and how far its electrostatic effect persists. With each Debye length the charges are increasingly electrically screened and the electric potential decreases in magnitude by e. A Debye sphere is a volume whose radius is the Debye length. Debye length is an important parameter in plasma physics, electrolytes, and colloids ( DLVO theory). The Debye length for a plasma consisting of particles with density n, charge q, and temperature T is given by \lambda_\text^2 = \varepsilon_0 k_\textT/(n q^2) . The corresponding Debye screening wavenumber is given by 1/\lambda_\text . The analogous quantities at very low temperatures (T \to 0) are known as the Thomas–Fermi length and the Thomas–Fermi wavenumber, respectively. They are of interest in describing the behaviour of electrons in metals at roo ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Electric Field Screening
In physics, screening is the damping of electric fields caused by the presence of mobile charge carriers. It is an important part of the behavior of charge-carrying mediums, such as ionized gases (classical plasmas), electrolytes, and electronic conductors (semiconductors, metals). In a fluid, with a given permittivity , composed of electrically charged constituent particles, each pair of particles (with charges and ) interact through the Coulomb force as \mathbf = \frac\hat, where the vector is the relative position between the charges. This interaction complicates the theoretical treatment of the fluid. For example, a naive quantum mechanical calculation of the ground-state energy density yields infinity, which is unreasonable. The difficulty lies in the fact that even though the Coulomb force diminishes with distance as , the average number of particles at each distance is proportional to , assuming the fluid is fairly isotropic. As a result, a charge fluctuation at any on ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Matter Wave
Matter waves are a central part of the theory of quantum mechanics, being half of wave–particle duality. At all scales where measurements have been practical, matter exhibits wave-like behavior. For example, a beam of electrons can be diffracted just like a beam of light or a water wave. The concept that matter behaves like a wave was proposed by French physicist Louis de Broglie () in 1924, and so matter waves are also known as de Broglie waves. The ''de Broglie wavelength'' is the wavelength, , associated with a particle with momentum through the Planck constant, : \lambda = \frac. Wave-like behavior of matter has been experimentally demonstrated, first for electrons in 1927 and for other elementary particles, neutral atoms and molecules in the years since. Matter waves have more complex velocity relations than solid objects and they also differ from electromagnetic waves (light). Collective matter waves are used to model phenomena in solid state physics; standing matte ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Electric Field
An electric field (sometimes called E-field) is a field (physics), physical field that surrounds electrically charged particles such as electrons. In classical electromagnetism, the electric field of a single charge (or group of charges) describes their capacity to exert attractive or repulsive forces on another charged object. Charged particles exert attractive forces on each other when the sign of their charges are opposite, one being positive while the other is negative, and repel each other when the signs of the charges are the same. Because these forces are exerted mutually, two charges must be present for the forces to take place. These forces are described by Coulomb's law, which says that the greater the magnitude of the charges, the greater the force, and the greater the distance between them, the weaker the force. Informally, the greater the charge of an object, the stronger its electric field. Similarly, an electric field is stronger nearer charged objects and weaker f ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Impact Parameter
In physics, the impact parameter is defined as the perpendicular distance between the path of a projectile and the center of a potential field created by an object that the projectile is approaching (see diagram). It is often referred to in nuclear physics (see Rutherford scattering) and in classical mechanics. The impact parameter is related to the scattering angle by : \theta = \pi - 2b\int_^\infty \frac, where is the velocity of the projectile when it is far from the center, and is its closest distance from the center. Scattering from a hard sphere The simplest example illustrating the use of the impact parameter is in the case of scattering from a sphere. Here, the object that the projectile is approaching is a hard sphere with radius R. In the case of a hard sphere, U(r) = 0 when r > R, and U(r) = \infty for r \leq R . When b > R , the projectile misses the hard sphere. We immediately see that \theta = 0. When b \leq R, we find that b = R \cos\tfrac. Collision ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Landau Kinetic Equation
The Landau kinetic equation is a transport equation of weakly coupled charged particles performing Coulomb collisions in a plasma. The equation was derived by Lev Landau in 1936 as an alternative to the Boltzmann equation in the case of Coulomb interaction. When used with the Vlasov equation, the equation yields the time evolution for collisional plasma, hence it is considered a staple kinetic model in the theory of collisional plasma. Overview Definition Let f(v, t) be a one-particle Distribution function. The equation reads: \frac = B \frac\left(\int_dw \frac\left(\frac - \frac\right)f(v)f(w)\right) u = v - w The right-hand side of the equation is known as the Landau collision integral (in parallel to the Boltzmann collision integral). B is obtained by integrating over the intermolecular potential U(r): B = \frac\int_0^\infty dr \, r^3 \hat(r)^2 \hat(, k, ) = \int_ dx \, U(, x, ) e^ For many intermolecular potentials (most notably power laws where U(r) \propto \fra ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
