Typical Values
In space plasmas where the electron density is relatively low, the Debye length may reach macroscopic values, such as in the magnetosphere, solar wind, interstellar medium and intergalactic medium (see table):
| Plasma | Density ne(m-3) |
Electron temperature T(K) |
Magnetic field B(T) |
Debye length λD(m) |
| Solar core | 1032 | 107 | -- | 10−11 |
| Tokamak | 1020 | 108 | 10 | 10−4 |
| Gas discharge | 1016 | 104 | -- | 10−4 |
| Ionosphere | 1012 | 103 | 10−5 | 10−3 |
| Magnetosphere | 107 | 107 | 10−8 | 102 |
| Solar wind | 106 | 105 | 10−9 | 10 |
| Interstellar medium | 105 | 104 | 10−10 | 10 |
| Intergalactic medium | 1 | 106 | -- | 105 |
http://www.pma.caltech.edu/Courses/ph136/yr2004/
Hannes Alfvén pointed out that: "In a low density plasma, localized space charge regions may build up large potential drops over distances of the order of some tens of the Debye lengths. Such regions have been called electric double layers. An electric double layer is the simplest space charge distribution that gives a potential drop in the layer and a vanishing electric field on each side of the layer. In the laboratory, double layers have been studied for half a century, but their importance in cosmic plasmas has not been generally recognized."
Read more about this topic: Debye Length
Famous quotes containing the words typical and/or values:
“It is indeed typical that you Earth people refuse to believe in the superiority of any world but your own. Children looking into a magnifying glass, imagining the image you see is the image of your true size.”
—Franklin Coen. Joseph Newman. The Monitor (Douglas Spencer)
“Culture is the name for what people are interested in, their thoughts, their models, the books they read and the speeches they hear, their table-talk, gossip, controversies, historical sense and scientific training, the values they appreciate, the quality of life they admire. All communities have a culture. It is the climate of their civilization.”
—Walter Lippmann (1889–1974)