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Originally Posted by lyndonashmore
I think we have covered everything on this point now, so how do free electrons with random thermal motion generate 'density waves?"
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The same way they do it in a metal.
The electrons cannot leave the volume occupied by the plasma.
If they try, a net positive charge arises, and they are pulled back.
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Originally Posted by lyndonashmore
I say it is because the individual electrons perform SHM and there is a phase lag between them so we get the 'density waves'.
What do you say?
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You are wrong.
The electrons do not oscillate about an equilibrium point. They fly around in the plasma.
If they were oscillating about a point, they would be bound to it (like in an atom), and there would not be a plasma.
Do you remember the analogy with sound?
The air molecules have Brownian motion, yet we can have oscillations in the pressure, on length-scales much large than the average distance between the molecules.
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Originally Posted by lyndonashmore
Lyndon With profound appologies to Papageno.
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What are your apologies for?