Plasma expansion rate?

His Divine Shadow · Post by **His Divine Shadow** » 2003-06-08 06:42pm

How fast would plasma expand without a containment field?

Post by **Sea Skimmer** » 2003-06-08 06:45pm

Wouldn't that be dependent on the density at which it started or its rate of creation?

His Divine Shadow · Post by **His Divine Shadow** » 2003-06-08 06:54pm

Sea Skimmer wrote:Wouldn't that be dependent on the density at which it started or its rate of creation?

Well if we where to say a bolt of plasma made from a few grams of matter(Hydrogen or Helium maybe) thats heated to temperatures of around 10 megakelvins(alternatively 100 kilokelvins, below fusion temperatures) and compressed in a cylindrical space that is maybe 10cm long and 1cm in diameter

Durandal · Post by **Durandal** » 2003-06-08 10:52pm

There are far too many unknowns to give an estimate.

His Divine Shadow · Post by **His Divine Shadow** » 2003-06-09 08:30am

Durandal wrote:There are far too many unknowns to give an estimate.

Ah, oh well, I was hoping that if I had an approximate idea of plasma expansion rate in an atmosphere that I could figure out how fast a bolt would have to go in order to be usable, hence displaying the absurdity and complexity of plasma weapons.

GrandMasterTerwynn · Post by **GrandMasterTerwynn** » 2003-06-09 09:18pm

His Divine Shadow wrote:
Sea Skimmer wrote:Wouldn't that be dependent on the density at which it started or its rate of creation?
Well if we where to say a bolt of plasma made from a few grams of matter(Hydrogen or Helium maybe) thats heated to temperatures of around 10 megakelvins(alternatively 100 kilokelvins, below fusion temperatures) and compressed in a cylindrical space that is maybe 10cm long and 1cm in diameter

A atmospheric plasma phenomena similar to what you're describing is ball lightning which can last for a period of time ranging from a fraction of a second to minutes.