👉 The Thomson fluid is a theoretical model used to describe the behavior of highly conductive fluids, particularly plasmas and liquid metals, under conditions where the mean free path of particles is much smaller than the characteristic length scale of the system. Introduced by James Thomson in 1957, this fluid model simplifies the complex interactions between charged particles and neutral atoms by assuming that collisions between particles dominate over long-range electromagnetic forces. In this approximation, the fluid is treated as a continuous medium with collective properties, such as density and velocity, which can be described using macroscopic equations. The Thomson fluid model is particularly useful for studying phenomena like electrical conductivity, viscosity, and magnetic field interactions in plasmas and liquid metals, providing a balance between simplicity and physical accuracy for many practical applications.
