Developed by the Indian astrophysicist Meghnad Saha in 1920, this formula describes the degree of ionization of a gas as a function of the temperature T, density, and ionization energy. Meghnad Saha (मेघनाथ साहा) (October 6, 1893 – February 16, 1956) was an Indian astrophysicist. ... 1920 is a leap year starting on Thursday (link will take you to calendar) Events January January 7 - Forces of Russian White admiral Kolchak surrender in Krasnoyarsk. ...
Let X = ne / n be the ionization fraction, i.e., the electron density relative to the total density of atoms and ions. Then the Saha equation is
where h is Planck's constant and I is the ionization energy. Plancks constant, denoted h, is a physical constant that is used to describe the sizes of quanta. ...
The Sahaequation describes the degree of ionization of this plasma as a function of the temperature, density, and ionization energies of the atoms.
The Sahaequation is useful for determining the ratio of particle densities for two different ionization levels.
This equation simply states that the potential for an atom of ionization state i to ionize is the same as the potential for an electron and an atom of ionization state i+1; the potentials are equal, therefore the system is in equilibrium and no net change of ionization will occur.