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Team Discovers "Throttle" For Solar Wind

Posted by ScuttleMonkey on from the all-systems-go dept.

ScienceDaily is reporting that a team of scientists have discovered that Helium may act as a "throttle" for the solar wind. The team hopes that this insight will provide them a better look inside the dynamics of space weather. "Because helium nearly vanishes from the solar wind at its minimum speed, the researchers believe helium might somehow set the minimum speed. Helium is not accelerated efficiently by any process thought to be propelling the solar wind. Instead, it has to be dragged along by the hydrogen: Solar wind hydrogen atoms exert a small electric field that drags the helium out along with it, according to the team."

4 of 65 comments (clear)

  1. Curiously... by packetmon · · Score: 3, Interesting

    I wonder *how* one measures anything going that slow considering there isn't something *tangible* to watch and measure... I wish the article could have explained this as I am now lost wondering... Which is faster, a slug, three toed sloth, helium or plasma...

    --
    Infiltrated dot Net
  2. long range satellites by jshriverWVU · · Score: 2, Interesting

    Could this be used on long range satellites?

  3. I don't buy it by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Interesting

    Helium has no dipole moment and will be unaffected by an electric field.

  4. About the researcher... by Theory+of+Everything · · Score: 2, Interesting

    By the way, the lead researcher happens to be one of the guys reappearing yearly on slashdot as the students who built a breeder reactor for the University of Chicago Scavenger Hunt.