ABSTRACT
In the sam e w ay as g low d ischarges trad itionally rep resen t non therm al, n o n equ ilib rium p lasm a, arc d ischarges are trad itional exam ples o f therm al quasi-equ ilib rium p lasm a (even though a rc s ’ p lasm as are quite often far from quasi equ ilib rium ). A rc d ischarges have ex isted fo r a very long period (a lm ost tw o cen tu ries) and are app lied in illum ination dev ices and in m etallurgy.
