Open AccessPhysics of Solar System Plasmas
Author(s) -
Hughes W. Jeffrey
Publication year - 1998
Publication title -
eos, transactions american geophysical union
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.316
H-Index - 86
eISSN - 2324-9250
pISSN - 0096-3941
DOI - 10.1029/98eo00185
Subject(s) - space physics , physics , dilemma , plasma , solar wind , grasp , hierarchy , space (punctuation) , solar physics , aerospace engineering , astronomy , computer science , mathematics , engineering , geometry , quantum mechanics , economics , market economy , programming language , operating system
Anyone who has taught an introductory course in space physics faces an insolvable dilemma. Space physics is the common name for the physics of the plasma regions in the solar system. The dilemma is, do you introduce the topics in plasma physics in an ordered progression and illustrate them with examples drawn from the solar system, in which case you are teaching a course in plasma physics with applications to the solar system? Or do you describe the various regions and environments found in the solar system in a coherent order and introduce the plasma physics as it is needed, in which case you are teaching a course in geophysics? I have tried both approaches, and neither works well. The first approach gives students an understanding of plasma physics and its hierarchy of approximations, but they usually do not get a coherent understanding of geospace. The second approach gives students a good grasp of the Sun/solar wind/magnetosphere/ionosphere as a single complex system, but they invariably end up with a poorer grasp of what physics applies in various situations. For programs that can accommodate it, two separate courses is clearly the best approach. Not all programs have that luxury.