Jet streams

[AaronB]

Here’s a general idea that might inspire some thoughts. The atmosphere has a jet stream, as do the oceans, and plasma filaments are little jet streams. They pretty much appear anywhere there is a big potential difference and a path of least resistance through a viscous material. For example, I propose that there are jet streams going through the magma under the earth’s crust, and that could drive continental drift. Where else might they pop up?

[willit]

japan?

[willit]

just a thought on the axial coil imparting some spin to ions…. do the perimeter conductor rods need to be symmetrical in length or could a variation in length cause a similar effect by allowing some filaments more (or less) energy just before filament separation and pinch? would stronger filaments force ions to one side and squeeze them through the weaker strands? or force them together while still contained within the pinch? I’m sure some vairations have been experimented with but I haven’t been able to access any data on this idea.
btw. what is the final disposition of fofu 1 once the experiment is complete? and where do you stand as of today on feasability of pb11?

[jamesr]

AaronB wrote: Here’s a general idea that might inspire some thoughts. The atmosphere has a jet stream, as do the oceans, and plasma filaments are little jet streams. They pretty much appear anywhere there is a big potential difference and a path of least resistance through a viscous material. For example, I propose that there are jet streams going through the magma under the earth’s crust, and that could drive continental drift. Where else might they pop up?

Jet streams are different in nature to ocean currents and flow along plasma filaments. As far as plasma phenomena go, “zonal flows” in tokamaks are the closest analogy. In the atmosphere of earth (or other planets such as Jupiter or Saturn) they come about by the Hadley cell flow up from the equator then flowing north (or south in southern hemisphere) to the tropics where they cool and fall. This combines with a second cell & third cell from the tropics to the pole – see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Jetcrosssection.jpg. These north-south eddies interact with the Earth’s rotation to create flows perpendicular to the main eddy rotation. At low altitude they are the trade winds, at high altitude the jet streams.

In tokamaks the turbulent flow outwards from the core (& perpendicular to the magnetic field) creates motion in the third, poloidal, direction perpendicular to both the B-field and the pressure gradient know as zonal flows, which can help in forming barriers to the flow of heat out of the tokamak.

The main point it jet stream type flows are perpendicular to the forcing potential (temperature gradient from equator to pole in this case), not down the potential as normal flows are.

[benf]

One has to wonder how the Earth’s global magnetic field influences the pattern of these streams. The plasmoid shows patterns of the filaments as well. It will be interesting to see more shots from the ICCD camera to see how repeatable the pattern behavior is and if necessary to try to “tune” or influence the filaments for better performance. I’m attaching a shot of a plasmoid that I’ve contrast enhanced. If you look at it for a while you can make out the helical nature of the filaments swirling around and looping, I believe. Are the filaments organized by the magnetic field, arcing like solar flares, rising and falling from and to the center?

Attached files

[AaronB]

jamesr wrote: Jet streams are different in nature to ocean currents and flow along plasma filaments. As far as plasma phenomena go, “zonal flows” in tokamaks are the closest analogy. In the atmosphere of earth (or other planets such as Jupiter or Saturn) they come about by the Hadley cell flow up from the equator then flowing north (or south in southern hemisphere) to the tropics where they cool and fall. This combines with a second cell & third cell from the tropics to the pole – see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Jetcrosssection.jpg. These north-south eddies interact with the Earth’s rotation to create flows perpendicular to the main eddy rotation. At low altitude they are the trade winds, at high altitude the jet streams.

In tokamaks the turbulent flow outwards from the core (& perpendicular to the magnetic field) creates motion in the third, poloidal, direction perpendicular to both the B-field and the pressure gradient know as zonal flows, which can help in forming barriers to the flow of heat out of the tokamak.

The main point it jet stream type flows are perpendicular to the forcing potential (temperature gradient from equator to pole in this case), not down the potential as normal flows are.

Yes, you are correct. I incorrectly lumped these flows together. There are primary movements in the direction of the gradient, as well as secondary and tertiary movements influenced by regional interactions. These additional flows must be considered in addition to the primary movements. These flows can help or hinder whatever you’re trying to do. Thanks for the more robust explanation.

[Author]

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