Related papers: A challenge for Martian lightning: Limits of colli…
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,…
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…
Numerous laboratory experiments, starting in the Viking Lander era, have reported that frictional interactions between Martian analog dust grains can catalyze electrostatic processes (i.e. triboelectrification). Such findings have been…
Lifting dust and sand into the thin Martian atmosphere is a challenging problem. Atmospheric pressure excursions within dust devils have been proposed to support lifting. We verify this idea in laboratory experiments. Pressure differences…
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…
Within the RoadMap project we investigated the microphysical aspects of particle collisions during saltation on the Martian surface in laboratory experiments. Following the size distribution of ejected particles, their aerodynamic…
Grains in desert sandstorms spontaneously generate strong electrical charges; likewise volcanic dust plumes produce spectacular lightning displays. Charged particle clouds also cause devastating explosions in food, drug and coal processing…
It is a long-standing open question whether electrification of wind-blown sand due to tribocharging - the generation of electric charges on the surface of sand grains by particle-particle collisions - could affect rates of sand transport…
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…
Contact electrification of dielectric grains forms the basis for a myriad of physical phenomena. However, even the basic aspects of collisional charging between grains are still unclear. Here we develop a new experimental method, based on…
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…
Aeolian sediment transport is observed to occur on Mars as well as other extraterrestrial environments, generating ripples and dunes as on Earth. The search for terrestrial analogues of planetary bedforms, as well as environmental…
Lithium is overabundant in cosmic rays because protons impact on carbon and oxygen nuclei and fission them. Among the products of this fission is lithium. Given this preference for carbon and oxygen atoms, in this work I propose that in an…
Collisions of mm-size dust aggregates play a crucial role in the early phases of planet formation. We developed a laboratory setup to observe collisions of dust aggregates levitating at mbar pressures and elevated temperatures of 800 K. We…
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…
We carried out wind tunnel experiments on parabolic flights with 100 $\mu$m Mojave Mars simulant sand. The experiments result in shear stress thresholds and erosion rates for varying g-levels at 600 Pa pressure. Our data confirm former…
Explaining the evidence for surface liquid water on early Mars has been a challenge for climate modelers, as the sun was ~30% less luminous during the late-Noachian. We propose that the additional greenhouse forcing of CO2-H2…
Emission of dust up to a few micrometer in size by impacts of sand grains during saltation is thought to be one source of dust within the Martian atmosphere. To study this dust fraction, we carried out laboratory impact experiments. Small…
Our earlier laboratory measurements showed that low-velocity sand impacts release fine <5 {\mu}m dust from a Martian simulant soil. This dust will become airborne in the Martian atmosphere. Here, we extend this study by measuring…
Layer clouds are abundant in the Earth's atmosphere. Such clouds do not become sufficiently strongly charged to generate lightning, but they show weak charging along the upper and lower cloud boundaries where there is a conductivity…