From: Mike Rosing <rosing@neurophys.wisc.edu>
Newsgroups: sci.physics.plasma
Subject: Re: Static plasma
Organization: University of Wisconsin, Madison
References: <b1dpjc$d48$1@saturn.cs.uml.edu>


me wrote:
> Please forgive my ignorance,but is it possable to contain plasma within a
> magnetic field ,for long periods of time,well I mean ,longer than a few
> seconds.And if it is how did they do this ,after all the problrms of the
> plasma twisting and turning in the bottles.
> Thanks .

It depends on the temperature and density. If you have a cold plasma,
low density and a strong field, the particles won't collide much and
will be trapped on the field lines for a long time. If you have a high
temperature and high density plasma, then currents in it can reduce the
magnetic field and collisions allow faster escape too.

Straight field lines hold plasma better than curved ones too, but you
can only make a bottle so long :-) The main trick is to confine it
"long enough" for what ever purpose you're interested in, and then not
worry about when it fades out.

Patience, persistence, truth,
Dr. mike

--
Mike Rosing
www.beastrider.com BeastRider, LLC
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