IONIZATION-EQUILIBRIUM EQUATION OF STATE. IV. DENSE PLASMAS AND LIQUID METALS
A new approach to the theoretical computation of the equation of state of dense plasmas and liquid metals is presented. The method uses the author's complete solution of Saha's equation, modified by a correction to the ionization potentials that is based on Ecker and Weizel's solutions of the Schrodinger equations for an electron in a Debye field. At densities relative to solid densities of 0.1, 1.0, and 10.0, the results over a large temperature range are in agreement with results computed using the ThomasFermi (TF) and the Debye- Huckel, Thomas-Fermi (DHTF) models of the atom. Results for iron are compared with published results. At low temperatures, the perfect gas (NkT) pressures calculated by the author's method fall below the TF pressure; this is to be expected because the TF method does not handle partial ionization correctly. At low densities, pressures calculated by using the correction to the ionization potential discussed here agree exactly with pressures calculated by using the correction to the ionization potentials derived by minimizing free energy. The relative abundances of the ions are also the same. Debye-Huckel pressure corrections and the degeneracy of the free electrons are also considered. (auth)
- Research Organization:
- Univ. of California, Livermore
- NSA Number:
- NSA-17-003586
- OSTI ID:
- 4775798
- Report Number(s):
- UCRL-5695-T(Pt.5); 0004-637X
- Journal Information:
- Astrophysical Journal (U.S.), Journal Name: Astrophysical Journal (U.S.) Vol. Vol: 136; ISSN ASJOA
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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