# plasma_frequency_lite

plasmapy.formulary.frequencies.plasma_frequency_lite(n: Real, mass: Real, z_mean: Real, to_hz: bool = False) Real

The lite-function for plasma_frequency. Performs the same plasma frequency calculation as plasma_frequency, but is intended for computational use and, thus, has all data conditioning safeguards removed.

Parameters
Returns

wp – The particle plasma frequency in radians per second. Setting keyword to_hz=True will apply the factor of $$1/2π$$ and yield a value in Hz.

Return type

Real

Notes

The particle plasma frequency is

$ω_{p} = Z |e| \sqrt{\frac{n}{\epsilon_0 m}}$

where $$m$$ is the mass of the particle, $$e$$ is the fundamental unit of charge, $$Z$$ is the average charge state z_mean of the particle species, $$n$$ is the particle number density. This form of the plasma frequency has units of radians / s, but when using the to_hz keyword a factor of $$1/2π$$ will be applied to give a value in Hz.

Examples

>>> from plasmapy.particles import Particle
>>> mass = Particle("p").mass.value
>>> plasma_frequency_lite(n=1e19, mass=mass, z_mean=1)
416329...
>>> plasma_frequency_lite(n=1e19, mass=mass, z_mean=1, to_hz=True)
662608...