Does (will) wind affect plasma (electical spark passing through a gap) in a way such as it affects fire?
My guess is no because it's like light, but still thought its worth asking.
Thanks
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Does (will) wind affect plasma (electical spark passing through a gap) in a way such as it affects fire? My guess is no because it's like light, but still thought its worth asking. Thanks |
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Yes, it definitely does. Otherwise, the Jacob's ladder wouldn't work: therein, an electric arc moves upwards. This is because it heats the air around it, which then expands, reducing its density, thus causing an upwards "wind" which pulls the electric arc with it.
Well, no. As Jaime said, plasma is just ionised gas, but still gas. To put it on a particle level: it still consists of electrons and nuclei, i.e. of fermions, these cannot just vanish¹. Air consists of the same fermions, and fermions of the same kind repulse each other, which in this case means the plasma is pushed around by moving air. In contrast, electromagnetic radiation / light consists of photons, which are bosons, not fermions. ¹Certainly not at such low energies – in an electric arc we can't have more than the few $\mathrm{keV}$s supplied by the electric voltage, which is far to low for serious elementary-particle reactions. |
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