Mechanisms for the formation and maintenance of the cometary coma (and tail).

This statement, on page 16, pretty much says it all: "Most of the voltage difference between the comet and the solar plasma is taken up in a double layer of charge, called a plasma sheath, that surrounds the comet. When the electrical stress is great enough, the sheath glows and appears as the typical cometary coma and tail." Only two other statements add anything to the mechanism: "It is the electric force that holds the spherical cometary coma in place as the comet races around the Sun" (p5, where the ECM is laid out) and "The comet's charge, developed in deep space, responds to the new environment by increasing internal electric polarization and by forming [...] and a visible plasma sheath, or coma." (p6).

One more statement completes the explanations of these two mechanisms: " [a comet's] well-defined filaments extending up to tens of millions of miles without dissipating in the vacuum of space [revealed in its tails] is to be expected of a plasma discharge within the ambient electric field of the Sun." (p5).

So, in a nutshell, electric field plus plasma = coma; add "a plasma discharge" and you get the filaments in tails.

However, with no external references for any of this, and nothing more than the above (in the document itself), these mechanisms are just as meaningless as those covered in my previous post ... unless the fundamental mechanism (the charging of comets) somehow breathes meaning into them. Oh, and the specific mechanism for tails - either formation or maintenance - is empty (only filaments are explained, in terms of a mechanism) ¹.

Mechanisms for the formation and maintenance of jets and filaments.

In the ECM, filaments and jets are intimately linked, but it is the mechanism for jets that is described in some detail: "The observed jets of comets are electric arc discharges to the nucleus, [...] excavated material is accelerated into space along the jets' observed filamentary arcs"; "The collimation of such jets [which] explode from cometary nuclei at supersonic speeds [...] is a well-documented attribute of plasma discharge"; "The comet's charge [...] responds to the new environment [...] by forming cathode jets"; and "an electric field accelerates matter in the jet; an electromagnetic "pinch effect" provides densities in the thin jets many orders of magnitude higher than those predicted from simple radial sublimation; and instabilities and fluctuations suddenly relocate jets in exceedingly short periods of time".

And, as mentioned in my previous post, the jets are also linked with EDM: "Intermittent and wandering arcs erode the surface and burn it black, leaving the distinctive scarring patterns of electric discharges"; and "The jets flare up and move over the nucleus irregularly, leaving scars typical of electric discharge machining".

But how much meat is there, really? Let's substitute "electric arc discharge" for "jet", per the primary definition:

"The collimation of such electric arc discharges [which] explode from cometary nuclei at supersonic speeds [...] is a well-documented attribute of plasma discharge" - so "electric arc discharges" are a subset of "plasma discharges"

"The comet's charge [...] responds to the new environment [...] by forming cathode electric arc discharges" - consistent.

"an electric field accelerates matter in the electric arc discharge; an electromagnetic "pinch effect" provides densities in the thin electric arc discharges many orders of magnitude higher than those predicted from simple radial sublimation; and instabilities and fluctuations suddenly relocate electric arc discharges in exceedingly short periods of time" - consistent.

(The two jet-EDM relationship statements become a simple repetition).

So, in a nutshell, electric field plus plasma = electric arc discharges, a subset of plasma discharges; plasma discharges behave thusly {insert list}.

However, with no external references for any of this, and nothing more than the above (in the document itself), these mechanisms are just as meaningless as those covered in my previous post ... unless the fundamental mechanism (the charging of comets) somehow breathes meaning into them¹.

Emission of x-rays.

From page 16: "Diffuse electrical discharges occur in the sheath and at the nucleus, radiating a variety of frequencies, including x-rays"; and "Flickering and occasional flare-ups are also expected, because plasma discharges behave in a non-linear manner".

So we have at least one more behaviour of plasma discharges, and we also learn that electric arc discharges are indeed just one kind of plasma discharge.

Obviously, these are almost as meaningless as "electrostatic cleaning" (the latter has the added distinction of being flagged as having a special meaning, by use of quotation marks, and then not having that meaning defined) ¹.

Next, a look at the last, but most important, ECM mechanism, how comets become charged.

¹ Remember that here I am examining only the ECM as presented on page 5 (and p16), and references to it, sans the bit about origins. So, for example, the reference to Alfvén's ideas on CMEs is beyond scope.