Related papers: Why do Particle Clouds Generate Electric Charges?
The non-Newtonian character of granular flow in a vertical pipe is analyzed. The time evolution of the flow velocity and the velocity fluctuations (or granular temperature) is derived. The steady state velocity has a power law dependence on…
This work studies the likely dust seeding processes arising from alkali metal and alkaline earth ionisation, epoxidation (epoxide bond formation via oxygen atom insertion into C=C bonds), and grain charge disproportionation (the existence…
Recent observations of brown dwarf spectroscopic variability in the infrared infer the presence of patchy cloud cover. This paper proposes a mechanism for producing inhomogeneous cloud coverage due to the depletion of cloud particles…
Granular fronts are a common yet unexplained phenomenon emerging during the gravity driven free-surface flow of concentrated suspensions. They are usually believed to be the result of fluid convection in combination with particle size…
Granular materials, composed of discrete solid grains, can be modeled as simple mechanical systems. However, these materials can undergo spontaneous slow deformation, or creep, even under small forces and while in apparent mechanical…
The processes occurring in the solar atmosphere are diverse and depend on many important factors. For example, from magnetic fields, their sudden changes, from emissions of substance from the depths of the Sun, distribution of shock waves…
Rapidly spinning magnetic grains can acquire large magnetic dipole moments due to the Barnett effect. Here we study the new effect of Barnett magnetic dipole-dipole interaction on grain-grain collisions and grain growth, assuming grains…
It is shown that clustering of charged impurities on graphene can suppress their contribution to the resistivity by a large factor of about the number of impurities per cluster, while leaving the density dependence unchanged. If the cluster…
Interstellar dust (ISD) particles penetrate the solar system due to the relative motion of the Sun and the local interstellar cloud. Before entering the heliosphere, they pass through the heliospheric interface - the region of the solar…
When a fast dust particle hits a spacecraft, it generates a cloud of plasma some of which escapes into space and the momentary charge imbalance perturbs the spacecraft voltage with respect to the plasma. Electrons race ahead of ions,…
Our current understanding of interstellar dust is summarized at an introductory level. Submicron-sized interstellar dust grains absorb and scatter light, and reradiate the absorbed energy in the infrared. The grain population spans a range…
Triboelectrification of granular materials is a poorly understood phenomenon that alters particle behaviour, impacting industrial processes such as bulk powder handling and conveying. At small scales ($< 1 g$) net charging of powders has…
Collisions electrically charge grains which promotes growth by coagulation. We present aggregation experiments with three large ensembles of basalt beads ($150\,\mu\mathrm{m} - 180\,\mu\mathrm{m})$, two of which are charged, while one…
In recent years, collisional charging has been proposed to promote the growth of pebbles in early phases of planet formation. Ambient pressure in protoplanetary disks spans a wide range from below $10^{-9}$ mbar up to way beyond mbar. Yet,…
Gas-phase microdroplets have recently demonstrated exceptional chemical properties via suspected mechanisms such as contact electrification and surface charge pinning, producing high surface electric fields. Here, microdroplets are injected…
Light fields get large scale fluctuations during inflation. If some of them are electrically charged, then large scale fluctuations of the electric charge will be generated. As a consequence, any finite portion of the Universe, including…
We study the dynamics of large, charged dust grains in turbulent giant molecular clouds (GMCs). Massive dust grains behave as aerodynamic particles in primarily neutral dense gas, and thus are able to produce dramatic small-scale…
This study explores the dynamic evolution of dust electrical potential and plasma particle number densities with a focus on the charging of dust grains through electron and ion absorption, as described by the orbital motion limited (OML)…
Several mechanisms have been proposed to explain the alignment of grains with the interstellar magnetic field, including paramagnetic dissipation, radiative torques, and supersonic gas-grain streaming. These must compete with disaligning…
Thunderstorms produce strong electric fields over regions on the order of kilometer. The corresponding electric potential differences are on the order of 100 MV. Secondary cosmic rays reaching these regions may be significantly accelerated…