Plasmas as Multiscale

  Plasmas encompass an astronomically large range of scales in length, density and   temperature (equivalent to thermal energy). The well-known length scale change in going   from the microscopic   to cosmic scale, as presented so effectively by Charles and Ray Eames,
is even more dramatically illustrated by plasmas which encompass an enormous range of scales in density, temperature (energy), and field magnitude as well as length!



           Contemporary Physics Education Project

                     Plasma Experiments - Space to Laboratory
Mesoscopic or mesoscale processes are encountered from condensed matter physics to space plasmas, from less than 10-7 to more than 10+7 meters. The relationship of microscopic to macroscopic phenomena has long been a central theme of statistical physics and other fields. However, recognition of the natural emergence of distinct mesoscale processes and structures, especially clear and prominent in various plasma systems, is a new development.
                          
                                     Plasma Scale Variations

Scale Lengths: -10 to +25 in cm

Mass density (grams/cm3): 10-27 to 10+10
[highest density, shortest scale comes from quark-gluon plasma where electromagnetic force is replaced by the short-range, strong force]

Number density: from less than 10-4 to more than 10+30 cm3

Temperature (thermal energy): from near absolute zero (crystalline states in recent non-neutral laboratory plasmas) to more than 100 keV

Magnetic fields: less than 10-6 to more than 10+14 gauss

Plasma lifetimes: characteristic time scales from picoseconds to infinity