Related papers: Why do Particle Clouds Generate Electric Charges?
Charging of upper and lower horizontal boundaries of extensive layer clouds results from current flow in the global electric circuit. Layer-cloud charge accumulation has previously been considered a solely electrostatic phenomenon, but it…
Collisions between particles suspended in a fluid play an important role in many physical processes. As an example, collisions of microscopic water droplets in clouds are a necessary step in the production of macroscopic raindrops.…
When mobilized, granular materials become charged as grains undergo collisions and frictional interactions. On Earth, this process, known as triboelectrification, has been recognized in volcanic plumes and sandstorms. Yet, frictional…
When a particle contacts a surface of another material, it is commonly believed that the particle acquires an impact charge that scales inversely with its pre-impact charge and whose polarity is set by the materials. We show that this…
Neglecting the effects associated with the solar wind plasma, the photoelectrons are the only elementary particles which create an electrical current through sunlit surface of the moon. They are knocked off of the surface soil, rise above…
Protoplanetary disk are the foundation of planet formation. Lightning can have a profound impact on the chemistry of planetary atmospheres. The emergence of lightning in a similar manner in protoplanetary disks, would substantially alter…
In (pre)-planetary environments, dust and sand grains regularly collide. They electrically charge and discharge during these events. In this work, we study if cosmic radiation has any influence on the equilibrium charge state on timescales…
Charging of dust grains in low-pressure plasmas is reviewed critically. A theory based on the Fokker-Planck equation and orbital motion limited approximation is proposed. The theory predicts that dust grains can acquire a positive charge in…
The deflection of interstellar dust grains in the magnetic field near the heliopause has been investigated based on the assumption that interstellar grains are homogeneous spheres. However, remote observations have shown that interstellar…
Analysis of the observational data and possible origination scenarios of particle bursts allows us to conclude that the bursts can be explained by the electron acceleration in the thunderous atmosphere and by gigantic showers developed in…
The charge on an aggregate immersed in a plasma environment distributes itself over the aggregate's surface; this can be approximated theoretically by assuming a multipole distribution. The dipole-dipole (or higher order) charge…
We study the effects of the velocity distribution functions of the plasma particles on the equilibrium charge of dust grains, acquired through inelastic collisions of the particles with the grains. This paper is the second in a series of…
A general derivation of the charging equation of a dust grain is presented, and indicated where and when it can be used. A problem of linear fluctuations of charges on the surface of the dust grain is discussed.
Massive binary star systems are not uncommon, and neither the supersonic collision of their winds. In the present work we study these shocks and the further consequences on wind structure. The post-shock gas is a warm and high-density…
The mechanisms underlying triboelectric charging have a stochastic nature. We investigate how this randomness affects the distributions of charges generated on granular particles during either a single or many collisions. The charge…
The local cosmic-ray (CR) spectra are calculated for typical characteristic regions of a cold dense molecular cloud, to investigate two so far neglected mechanisms of dust charging: collection of suprathermal CR electrons and protons by…
Granular media such as sand and sugar are ubiquitous in nature and industry but are less well understood than fluids or solids. We consider the behavior of rapid granular flows where the transfer of momenta by collisions dominates. The…
This study examines the effect that dipole-dipole charge interactions between fractal aggregates have on the growth of dust grains. Aggregates in a plasma or radiative environment will have charge distributed over their extended surface,…
A master equation was formulated to study intrinsic charge fluctuations of a grain in a plasma as ions and primary electrons are attached to the grain through collisional collection, and secondary electrons are emitted from the grain. Two…
The structure and evolution of aggregate grains formed within a plasma environment are dependent upon the charge acquired by the micron-sized dust grains during the coagulation process. The manner in which the charge is arranged on…