Plasma-like Behaviour of Partially-Ionized Liquids Part I – The Floating Water Bridge
Johnson R J1*
1Independent researcher, Oxford, UK
*Correspondence: E-mail: [email protected]
Key Words: Plasma, Ionized Gas, Floating Water Bridge, Partially-ionized Liquid
Received January 23rd, 2012; Accepted March 13th, 2012; Published April 28th, 2012; Available online May 20th, 2012
Summary
It is suggested that charged particles in partially-ionized liquids are subject to similar forces as their counterparts in ionized-gas plasma and that an analysis of these forces can offer an explanation for the anomalous behavior of various partially-ionized liquids. In this paper, the behavior of the Floating Water Bridge (FWB) is compared to the filamentary behavior of Birkeland Currents in ionized-gas plasma. Plasma theory applied to the ions in the water of the FWB provides additional insights into aspects of the behavior of the FWB which are as yet imperfectly explained by other analyses. The correspondence between the behavior of the FWB and Birkeland Currents suggests that the application of plasma principles to partially-ionized liquids is valid and therefore may have wider applications in biological situations also involving partially-ionized liquids.