Mass driver constrained by a limited amount of onboard spacecraft power. Thrust and momentum from exhaust, per unit mass expelled, scales up linearly with its velocity (momentum = mv), yet kinetic energy and energy input requirements scale up faster with velocity squared (kinetic energy = mv). Too low exhaust velocity would excessively increase propellant mass needed under the rocket equation, with too high a fraction of energy going into accelerating propellant not used yet. Higher exhaust velocity has both benefit and tradeoff, increasing propellant usage efficiency (more momentum per unit mass of propellant expelled) but decreasing thrust and the current rate of
Magnetic reconnection where formula_18 is the mass density of the plasma. Solving for the outflow velocity then gives where formula_20 is the Alfvén velocity. With the above relations, the dimensionless reconnection rate formula_21 can then be written in two forms, the first in terms of formula_22 using the result earlier derived from Ohm's law, the second in terms of formula_23 from the conservation of mass as Since the dimensionless Lundquist number formula_25 is given by the two different expressions of formula_21 are multiplied by each other and then square-rooted, giving a simple relation between the reconnection rate formula_21 and the Lundquist number