Electrical conductivity of nonideal plasmas

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Abstract
The Spitzer formula for the electrical conductivity of fully ionized gases is modified to permit its application in the nonideal plasma region. A rigorous method of calculating electrical conductivities in partially ionized gases in both ideal and nonideal plasmas is also described. These models are based on the classical Chapman–Enskog approximation with the superposition of binary collisions without the assumption of additional electron scattering mechanisms, such as scattering by plasma oscillations. Good agreement with experiment is obtained in the nonideal region largely through a more adequate treatment of electron screening of the ionic Coulomb potential. The large electron scattering cross section for attractive ion potentials found by Mason e t a l. [E. A. Mason, R. J. Munn, and F. J. Smith, Phys. Fluids 1 0, 1827 (1967)] is found to decrease the conductivity in the nonideal region compared to the cross sections of Liboff.