ABSTRACT
Properties o f therm al p lasm a qu ite o ften can be described sim ply based on the tem pera tu re o f the system and using quasi-equ ilib rium approaches. G eneral aspects o f sta tistics and therm odynam ics o f such system s, includ ing the B o ltzm ann d is tri bution; chem ical and rad ia tion equ ilib rium ; and the Saha equation fo r ionization equ ilib rium , w ill be considered in th is section . E lem en ts and exam ples o f the n o n equ ilib rium statistics o f charged and neutral partic les, such as the T reano r distribu tion o f the v ib ra tionally excited m olecu les, also w ill be d iscussed .
