Experiments on the inhibition of thermal convection by a magnetic field

Abstract
Experiments on the magnetic inhibition of thermal convection in horizontal layers of mercury heated from below are described. A large 36½ in. cyclotron magnet reconditioned for hydromagnetic studies was used in these experiments. By using layers of mercury of depth 3 to 6 cm and magnetic fields of strength 500 to 8000 gauss, it has been possible to determine the dependence of the critical Rayleigh number for the onset of instability on the parameter Q1 ( = σH2d2/π2ρν, where H denotes the strength of the field, σ the electrical conductivity, ν the coefficient of kinematic viscosity, ρ the density and d the depth of the layer) for Q1 varying between 40 and 1·6 × 106. The experiments fully confirm the theoretical relation derived by Chandrasekhar.

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