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Browse materialsMIT 16.55 · Fall 2014

Ionized Gases

Art: 1783 balloonj, 1786 · Public domain

Instructors: Prof. Manuel Martinez-Sanchez, Prof. Paulo Lozano
Term: Fall 2014
Level: Graduate
What's inside: 1 lecture note · 26 other files · 3 web pages
Materials open: MIT OCW

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Start course: Lecture 1: Fundamentals of Plasma Physics. Larmor Motion. Debye…Find a topic

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About this course

Source: MIT OpenCourseWare 16.55 Ionized Gases, Fall 2014, Prof. Manuel Martinez-Sanchez, Prof. Paulo Lozano — original course page on ocw.mit.edu ↗. License: CC BY-NC-SA 4.0. Study order: MIT's own listing order, section by section. Taken from MIT's published course files, downloaded from ocw.mit.edu on September 23, 2026. How RedLectern is built.

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Lecture Notes

21 files

Assignments

5 files

2 images

MIT OpenCourseWare, Prof. Manuel Martinez-Sanchez, Prof. Paulo Lozano, 16.55 Ionized Gases, Fall 2014.

License: CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 · Edition: Fall 2014 · Open the original course on OCW ↗

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Ionized Gases

Before you start

What's here, and what isn't

Not included here

Materials by section

Lecture Notes

Assignments

Lecture 1: Fundamentals of Plasma Physics. Larmor Motion. Debye Shielding. Plasma Frequency (PDF)

Lecture 2: Motion of Charges in Uniform E and B fields. Diamagnetism. ExB Drift. Alfven Waves (PDF)

Lecture 3: Effects of an Inhomogeneous Magnetic Field. Inertia and Grad-B Drifts. Parallel Drifts and Magnetic Mirrors (PDF)

Lecture 4: Relationship between Drifts and the Fluid Picture (PDF)

Lecture 5: Time-varying B field. Adiabatic Invariants (PDF)

Lecture 8: Kinetic Theory. Vlasov and Boltzmann Equations. Collisional Terms (PDF)

Lecture 9: Boltzmann’s H-Theorem. Relationship Between H and S (Entropy) (PDF)

Lecture 12: Equilibrium in a Force Field. Distribution Functions near Repelling and Attracting Walls (PDF)

Lecture 15: Maxwellian Collisions. Ohm’s Law. Ambipolar Diffusion (PDF)

Lecture 16: The Electron Energy Equation (PDF)

Lecture 17: Plasma-Wall Interactions: Sheath and Pre-sheath. Bohm Condition. Random Particle and Kinetic Energy Flux Across a Plane(PDF)

Lecture 18: Electrostatic Probes. Floating Potential. Method of Medicus (PDF)

Lecture 19: Probes in the Orbital Motion-Limited (OML) Regime (PDF)

Lecture 22: Some Important Results of Statistical Mechanics. Ionization Equilibrium. Free Electrons in Metals. Black Body Radiation (PDF)

Lecture 23: The Electronic Partition Function for Atoms and Ions. The Vibrational and Rotational Partition Functions. Energy Levels (PDF)

Lecture 24: Radiation Transport in a Gas. Equilibrium Distribution. Transport Equation. Collisional Operator. Spectral Lines. Line-reversal Pyrometer (PDF)

Lecture 25: Semi-thick Plasma Approximation. Line Radiation and Broadening. Bound-free Radiation. Bremsstrahlung. Escape for Resonant Radiation (PDF)