Physical Sciences and Mathematics Commons^™

Electric Discharge: Boundary Conditions, Mostafa Hemmati, Chris Justice

Journal of the Arkansas Academy of Science

The electron gas in electric discharge can be described by a set of one-dimensional fluid dynamical equations. The fundamental equations are those of a three-component (electrons, ions, and neutral particles) fluid, different from the treatment of the problem inplasma physics, a fully ionized two-component case. The leading edge of the wave is treated as a shock front driven mainly by the electron gas pressure. Integrating the one-dimensional global differential equations for mass balance, conservation of momentum and energy, and evaluating the constant of integration at the wave front permits derivation of boundary conditions on electron temperature and electron velocity. Using …