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RESEARCH PRODUCT

Mathematical background of the Riga dynamo experiment

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The Riga dynamo experiment is a laboratory model of the natural process that is responsible for all environmental magnetic-fields which are generated without human interference. This applies to the field of the Earth, the Sun, stars, and even galaxies which are produced by intense motions of large volumes of good electro-conducting fluids. For our experiment, we use molten sodium – the best liquid electro-conductor available in the laboratory. Approximately 2 m3 of molten sodium are filled into a prolonged cylinder, at the top of which rotates a propeller powered by 200 kW from two motors. The cylinder is divided by thin coaxial inner walls into three parts: in the inner tube the propeller moves the sodium flow helically downward; in the middle one the sodium flows vertically upward; and the outer part contains liquid sodium at rest. When the propeller speed exceeds a critical value (depending on temperature: around 1800 rpm, corresponding to a sodium flow of 0.6 m3 s−1) then a magnetic-field is spontaneo...