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Programming a Plasma Physics Calculator with the Use of Python
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- Author(s) / Creator(s)
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Practitioners in plasma physics and engineering often make use of formula
booklets when making calculations [e.g., The NRL Plasma Formulary...].
Computing these formulas by hand is often tedious and error prone, particularly
if the quantities need to be converted from a different set of units. In our
research, we decided to develop a Python program that solves this problem by
taking user input, converting it into the correct units, performing the user's
calculation and then outputting it with the units of the user's choice. This was
done by using object oriented programming, python libraries that stored basic
unit conversions, and tagged data which is essentially tuples that use a number
as index zero and the respective units as index one. EX: (23.45, "cm"). Through
implementing these three strategies we were able to successfully create a base
program that is easy to use, manipulate, and further extend for future purposes.
Therefore, by utilizing python to create a plasma physics calculator we were able
to find an effective way to organize a plasma formulary. For future purposes, we
would like to create a user interface for our program, and add additional
formulas, and units to it. -
- Date created
- 2021-08-11
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- Type of Item
- Conference/Workshop Poster