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
Plasma (physics) ionization formula_1, the electron-ion collision frequency can equal the electron-neutral collision frequency: formula_11 is the limit separating a plasma from being partially or fully ionized. Most of "technological" (engineered) plasmas are weakly ionized gases. Based on the relative temperatures of the electrons, ions and neutrals, plasmas are classified as "thermal" or "non-thermal" (also referred to as "cold plasmas"). A particular and unusual case of "inverse" nonthermal plasma is the very high temperature plasma produced by the Z machine, where ions are much hotter than electrons. Since plasmas are very good electrical conductors, electric potentials play an important role. The average