The creation of electric wind due to the electrohydrodynamic force.
basic_science · Level V
Where this comes from
- Record sourced from PubMed, PMID 29371666.
- Also identified by DOI 10.1038/s41467-017-02766-9 and PMC identifier 5785522.
- Licence recorded as CC BY.
- The licence permits redistribution, so the abstract is shown in full and the full text is available from the publisher.
Abstract
Understanding the interactions between ionized matter and neutral particles is a prerequisite for discovering their impact on natural phenomena. One such phenomenon is the electric wind, which supposedly occurs due to the charged particle-neutral coupling in systems of weakly ionized gases, but this mechanism remains unclear. Here, we report direct evidence that electric wind is caused by an electrohydrodynamic force generated by the charged particle drag as a result of the momentum transfer from electrons/ions to neutrals. The model experiment is based on a pulsed plasma jet as a source of weakly ionized gases generated in the helium gas at atmospheric pressure using Schlieren photography. Studying the helium gas flow trajectories at different discharge parameters allows one to distinguish between the effects of streamer propagation or space charge drift causing the electric wind as well as to determine the role of electrons and (positive) ions in wind generation.