Free energy of ion–electron plasmas: Comparing calculations to experiments

The free energy of charged particles in a two-temperature model of an ion–electron plasma has been determined using the Debye–Huckel method. For this purpose, self-consistent potentials of charged particles were calculated on the basis of the numerical solution to the Poisson–Boltzmann equation, and the potential acting on a particle from the plasma was determined. We show that all the plasma components, as well as the plasma as a whole, have local minima in free energy at certain concentration and temperature values, i.e., they can remain in metastable states. Correlations have been established between the metastable-state calculations and known experimental data on contracted and arc discharge plasmas, as well as more exotic plasmas, plasmoids, and ball lightning plasmas.