Astrophysics (Index)About

ionization fraction

(a substance's ratio of unattached electrons to nuclei)

Ionization fraction is the ratio of ions to all the nuclei, e.g., of a gas. The term electron fraction (xe) is often used for the fraction of the gas particles that are free electrons. In the common case of monatomic hydrogen and positive ions, these would be two related measures of the same phenomenon given a cloud that is neutral overall, and you may find some particular equation sometimes adapted to use one and sometimes to use the other.


(ionization,hydrogen,plasma)
Further reading:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Degree_of_ionization#Physics_usage
http://scienceworld.wolfram.com/physics/IonizationFraction.html
http://ftp.astro.wisc.edu/~townsend/resource/teaching/astro-310-F09/hydrogen-ionization.pdf

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