The Electrical Conductivity of an Ionized Gas

The interaction term in the Boltzmann equation for an ionized gas is expressed as the sum of two terms: a term of the usual form for close encounters and a diffusion term for distant encounters. Since distant encounters, producing small deflections, are more important than close encounters, consideration of only the diffusion term gives a reasonably good approximation in most cases and approaches exactness as the temperature increases or the density decreases. It is shown that in evaluating the coefficients in this diffusion term, the integral must be cut off at the Debye shielding distance, not at the mean interionic distance.

The integro-differential equation obtained with the use of this diffusion term permits a more precise solution of the Boltzmann equation than is feasible with the Chapman-Cowling theory. While one pair of coefficients in this equation has been neglected, the remaining coefficients have all been evaluated, and the resultant equation solved numerically for the velocity distribution function in a gas of electrons and singly ionized atoms subject to a weak electrical field. Special techniques were required for this numerical integration, since solutions of the differential equation proved to be unstable in both directions. For high temperatures and low densities the computed electrical conductivity is about 60 percent of the value given by Cowling's second approximation.