Electron Density and Temperature Measurement of Arc on an Ice Surface

Abstract

Emission spectroscopic technique has been used to record the spectrum of the emitted light from an arc formed on an ice surface. The excitation temperature of the arc column was determined using the intensities of the spectral lines of NII and employing the Boltzmann method. The electron density was also estimated from the Stark broadening of the Balmer line Hg. The temperature and the density of electrons in the arc column for the selected setup were calculated to be about 2 eV and 4 times 1017 cm-3 respectively.