Related papers: Why do Particle Clouds Generate Electric Charges?
The charging of dust grains in astrophysical environments has been investigated with the assumption these grains are homogeneous spheres. However, there is evidence which suggests many grains in astrophysical environments are…
Dust particles immersed in a plasma environment become charged through the collection of electrons and ions at random times, causing the dust charge to fluctuate about an equilibrium value. Small grains (with radii less than 1 \mum) or…
Triboelectric charging of granular materials against container walls is a critical yet poorly understood phenomenon affecting many industrial powder handling processes. Charge accumulation can cause material flow disruptions, adhesion…
The paper presents a model of electric charge generation in precipitating clouds due to breaking of large particles in low melting layer. The Earth's electric field polarises the droplets and they break into small negatively charged and…
Sandstorms are frequently accompanied by the generation of intense electric fields and lightning. In a very narrow region close to the ground level, sand particles undergo a charge exchange mechanism whereby larger (resp. smaller) sized…
In clouds of suspended particles (grains, droplets, spheres, crystals, etc.), collisions electrify the particles and the clouds, producing large electric potential differences over large scales. This is seen most spectacularly in the…
We recently questioned the treatment of a dust particle as a perfect absorber for electrons and ions and proposed a surface model for the charge of a dust particle in a quiescent plasma which combines the microscopic physics at the grain…
Recent work identified a growth barrier for dust coagulation that originates in the electric repulsion between colliding particles. Depending on its charge state, dust material may have the potential to control key processes towards planet…
The charging of conducting or alternatively insulating dust grains in a supersonic plasma flow with a directed photon flux is studied by the particle-in-cell method. The electron emission modifies the surface charge distribution on a grain…
Context. Particles in protoplanetary disks go through a number of phases that are dominated by collisions. In each of these events, grains exchange electrical charge via triboelectric effects. This enhances the stability of particle…
In present models cloud based lightning forms as a consequence of the earth's gravitational and/or electromagnetic fields. Our simplified field-free model probes the random aggregation of a neutral ensemble consisting of a random…
The interaction between dust grains is an important process in fields as diverse as planetesimal formation or the plasma processing of silicon wafers into computer chips. This interaction depends in large part on the material properties of…
The influence of an inhomogeneous screened electric field on the charging of dust grains in a thermal dusty plasma is studied. The electric field of charged grains is considered within the cell approach, where the problem is reduced to a…
A simplified model has previously described the inductive charging of colliding identical grains in the presence of an external electric field. Here we extend that model by including heterogeneous surface charge distributions, grain…
Insulating particles can become highly electrified during powder handling, volcanic eruptions, and the wind-blown transport of dust, sand, and snow. Measurements in these granular systems have found that smaller particles generally charge…
The interaction between dust grains is an important process in fields as diverse as planetesimal formation or the plasma processing of silicon wafers into computer chips. This interaction depends in large part on the material properties of…
Collisional charging is one potential initial step in generating lightning. In this work, we study the charging of colliding monodisperse, spherical basalt grains depending on ambient pressure. We used grains of 1.0 to 1.2 mm in one set and…
We discuss a novel mechanism of dust acceleration which may dominate for particles smaller than $\sim0.1~\mu$m. The acceleration is caused by their direct electrostatic interactions arising from fluctuations of grain charges. The energy…
The coagulation of cosmic dust grains is a fundamental process which takes place in astrophysical environments, such as presolar nebulae and circumstellar and protoplanetary disks. Cosmic dust grains can become charged through interaction…
Dust emission mechanisms as one aspect of wind-driven particle motion on planetary surfaces are still poorly understood. The microphysics is important though as it determines dust sizes and morphologies which set sedimentation speeds and…