01 / ELECTRIC PROPULSION · INTERACTIVE STUDY
Hall Effect
Thruster Lab.
See the discharge. Explore the trade-offs.
Change voltage, xenon flow and magnetic field to explore an illustrative propulsion model.
Assumptions, equations & references ↓AI-assisted educational visualization with heuristic performance factors; no self-consistent fields or hardware validation. Use the sliders to compare model estimates. Pause or reset the particles with the controls. Keyboard: Space pauses, R resets when focus is outside a control.
Model estimates ILLUSTRATIVE
Xe · 131.293 u · Singly charged ions · Schematic section, not to scale
02 / BEHIND THE VISUALIZATION
Explore the physics.
Question the assumptions.
Xenon enters an annular channel. Electrons from the external cathode help ionize the gas; an axial electric field accelerates ions. The radial magnetic field limits electron motion towards the anode. The azimuthal Hall drift is out of this section’s plane; the drawn electron loops are schematic.
I developed this interactive study with Claude assistance to explore electric propulsion and communicate how a model’s inputs, assumptions and outputs connect.
What the model calculates
Ideal singly charged xenon speed: videal = √(2qVd/mXe). Model thrust: T = ṁvidealηT. Effective specific impulse: Isp = T/(ṁg₀). Thrust-equivalent power: PT = T²/(2ṁ). Discharge thrust efficiency: η = PT/(VdId).
ṁ is the specified xenon flow in kg/s (1 mg/s = 10⁻⁶ kg/s). Values exclude extra cathode flow and power for coils, cathode and power electronics. They are model estimates rather than full-system performance.
Illustrative assumptions
Mass utilization = 0.95(1 − exp(−ṁ/2)), with ṁ in mg/s. Assumed optimum field Bopt = 18 + 0.015(Vd − 150) mT. Divergence, voltage utilization and electron backstream current are heuristic functions, not calibrated measurements. The displayed electron Larmor radius assumes 20 eV.
The controls cover 150–800 V, 1–10 mg/s and 10–50 mT for exploration. These are demonstration limits, not a qualified operating envelope. The reset button restarts particles at the current settings.
What this cannot establish
This is an educational particle animation and algebraic performance model. It does not solve self-consistent electric or magnetic fields, collision kinetics, plasma instabilities, heat transfer or channel erosion. Particle counts and motion are visual proxies. Geometry and time are not to scale; the model is not a validated Particle-in-Cell solver or a prediction for an SPT-100 or any flight thruster.
References and next steps
NASA/JPL · Fundamentals of Electric Propulsion, Chapter 7: Hall Thrusters ↗
The reference supports the operating principle, not this demonstration’s fitted factors. A next step would be comparison against published measured thrust/current maps, sensitivity analysis and documented uncertainty.