Dusty plasmas

Dust grains immersed in plasma become charged. The charge is determined by the plasma characteristics, by secondary and photoemission from the grain, by grain velocity, and at any given instant by the past time history of the charging currents. This charge affects the Coulomb drag on a grain moving through the plasma. It affects the motion of the grain in an electromagnetic field of a planetary magnetosphere, and it is involved in the formation of the spokes in Saturn's rings and in the erosion of the rings by micrometeorites. And finally, it affects the coagulation rate of dust into larger bodies.