Effective collision frequency of electrons in atmospheric gases

Abstract

An effective collision frequency is defined for electrons in gases and its relations to several transport coefficients are derived explicitly, in an attempt to remove confusions arising from different definitions given to the collision frequency in different references. By using the best available data of the momentum-transfer cross section, numerical values are obtained for the effective collision frequencies for a number of atmospheric gases, i.e. for N 2, O 2, H 2, CO 2, H 2O, O, H and He, over the range of the electron temperature from 100 to 5000°K.