Talk:Plasma classification (type of plasma)

From (The Plasma Universe Wikipedia-like Encyclopedia)

Classification of plasmas

• See: "Space Physics: An Introduction to Plasmas and Particles in the Heliosphere"

Sprites

http://www.physicstoday.org/pt/vol-54/iss-11/p41.html

The above article makes reference to sprites being plasma on the order of 1 part per 10 billion neutrals, and yet a glow discharge not unlike a neon light or fluorescent tube.

"An electron density of 105 cm-3 at an altitude of 70 km corresponds to fewer than one free electron for every 10 billion neutral nitrogen molecules. (In contrast, the molecular population in an ordinary lightning channel is completely ionized.)"

It also calls into question the notion that "spectroscopy" is the end-all-be-all of determining whether something is or is not plasma! "...although sprite plasma is so weakly ionized that it escapes spectroscopic detection, it can still strongly interact with electromagnetic radiation of sufficiently low frequency."

Cheers, Mgmirkin 00:56, 15 March 2008 (GMT)