Heat flow processes in the positive column of a glow discharge

The electronic thermal conductivity of ionised gases such as air, hydrogen, nitrogen and oxygen has been measured for discharge currents varying from 2 mA to 8 mA. The problem of heat flow processes in the positive column of the glow discharge has been investigated utilizing the first order perturbation technique to Boltzmann Transport equation incorporating the radial distribution of charged particles which is assumed to be Bessalian. The loss is due to heat conductivity of electrons, ions and neutral particles and also due to ambipolar diffusion of electrons. The experimental results enable to calculate separately the contribution by different processes and it is observed that the major part of the heat loss is due to diffusion. Further from the experimental results it has been possible to calculate