Project: Plasma Temp-Density Diagram
An FFS Collaboration Proposal:
Create an updated version of a plasma temperature-density diagram with thumbnails of flames, lamps, lightning. This version should show where ITER, NIF and FF-1 stand.
Once completed, we can publish it under creative commons and plaster links to it all over the place.
To collaborate - visit this thread in the forums.
As Jamesr notes in this forum post, it can be useful to introduce the dpf as a plasma device that happens to release energy by fusion:
That way you can talk about the device in context with other plasma devices people are familiar with such as candle flames, neon lamps, spark plugs, lightning.
One diagram that is often used to illustrate the point is a temperature vs density, or temperature vs density*confinement time plot showing the relationship between different plasmas, such as the images below.
For the slightly more detailed (but less pretty version) see page 41 of: NRL Plasma formulary [note: pdf file]. This little formula book is a standard reference for any plasma physicist and so contains lots of scary looking formulae. The interesting thing is unlike most simplified versions of the diagram such as the NASA one below it includes plasma focus devices at the top right corner showing they achieve the highest density/temperature combination.
The NRL chart:
