ELECTRICAL-CONDUCTIVITY AND THERMODYNAMIC FUNCTIONS OF WEAKLY NONIDEAL PLASMA

The effect of partial screening due to electric microfields within the shielding cloud is examined and used as the basis for determination of electrical conductivity and certain thermodynamic functions of weakly nonideal plasma. A modified screening radius (non-Debye radius) that is greater than the Debye radius is used to take into account short-range Debye-Huckel-type interactions. The evaluation of nonideal plasma electrical conductivity includes corrections to the Spitzer model and accounts for localization of low-energy electrons in the continuum due to incomplete screening. Excellent argeement with experimental results is obtained in the weakly nonideal plasma regime. Corrections to certain thermodynamic functions, such as, chemical potential and internal energy, are evaluated using numerical methods. The effect of charge state on transport coefficients and thermodynamic functions is also analyzed.