An Etymological Dictionary of Astronomy and Astrophysics

A theory dealing with heat transport by → turbulence which includes an elementary treatment of → convection. The central idea is that an unbalanced → buoyancy force drives a → convective cell to move through a distance, called the → mixing length, before the cell dissolves and joins the ambient medium. In this theory an adjustable → mixing length parameter  α is used. The theory, originally due to L. Prandtl (1925), was first applied to the Sun by L. Biermann (1932, Z. Astrophys. 5, 117).

See also: → mixing; → length; → theory.