Search results
Results from the WOW.Com Content Network
Ions in the solar wind or magnetosphere can charge exchange with molecules in the upper atmosphere. A fast-moving ion can capture the electron from a slow atmospheric neutral, creating a fast neutral and a slow ion. The slow ion is trapped on the magnetic field lines, but the fast neutral can escape. [5]
This is much faster than the random motions of atoms in the ISM, but since the orbital motion of the gas is coherent, the average motion does not directly affect structure in the ISM. The vertical scale height of the ISM is set in roughly the same way as the Earth's atmosphere, as a balance between the local gravitation field (dominated by the ...
In chemical physics, atomic diffusion is a diffusion process whereby the random, thermally-activated movement of atoms in a solid results in the net transport of atoms. For example, helium atoms inside a balloon can diffuse through the wall of the balloon and escape, resulting in the balloon slowly deflating.
The following tables list molecules that have been detected in the interstellar medium or circumstellar matter, grouped by the number of component atoms. Neutral molecules and their molecular ions are listed in separate columns; if there is no entry in the molecule column, only the ionized form has been detected. Designations (names of ...
The amounts of total mass in elements heavier than hydrogen and helium (called 'metals' by astrophysicists) remains small (few percent), so that the universe still has approximately the same composition. Stars fuse light elements to heavier ones in their cores, giving off energy in the process known as stellar nucleosynthesis.
The Vacuum of Space Won't Last Forever. In Fact, It Ends Much Sooner Than We Thought. Caroline Delbert. July 25, 2024 at 10:00 AM. The Vacuum of Space Won't Last Forever Philipp Tur - Getty Images.
Charge exchange then occurred between the extremely fast SEP protons and the slower solar wind helium atoms, to create the highly neutral hydrogen atoms and slower helium ions. The resulting ENAs propagated through space without being bound to follow the Parker Spiral , so were observed near the Earth before the helium ions that were created in ...
Atomic physics primarily considers atoms in isolation. Atomic models will consist of a single nucleus that may be surrounded by one or more bound electrons. It is not concerned with the formation of molecules (although much of the physics is identical), nor does it examine atoms in a solid state as condensed matter.