Solar wind Solar wind The solar wind is a stream of charged particles released from the upper atmosphere of the Sun, called the corona. This plasma consists of mostly electrons, protons and alpha particles with kinetic energy between 0.5 and 10 keV. Embedded within the solar-wind plasma is the interplanetary magnetic field. The solar wind varies in density, temperature and speed over time and over solar latitude and longitude. Its particles can escape the Sun's gravity because of their high energy resulting from the high temperature of the corona, which in turn is a result of the coronal magnetic field. At a
Piezoelectric direct discharge plasma than 50 C. At the same time, the electrons and the ions reach energies of 1 – 10 eV. This is 300 – 3000 times higher than the average energy of the neutral gas particles. The densities of the electrons and the ions reach 10 – 10 m. Since most of the plasma volume consists of the cold neutral gas, the plasma is cold. However, the very energetic electrons and ions excite atoms and molecules producing large amounts of short-lived chemical species, making this plasma chemically very active. Properties of the piezoelectric direct discharge plasmas enable a large spectrum of