Magneto-Hydrodynamic Waves in Liquid Sodium

Liquid sodium, because of its higher electrical conductivity and lower density, is more suitable than mercury for magneto-hydrodynamic experiments. Torsional waves in liquid sodium have been generated in a cylindrical vessel with the axis parallel to a homogeneous magnetic field, and resonance phenomena have been investigated at constant frequency and variable magnetic field strength. The agreement between theory and experiment is satisfactory. It is shown that even with sodium, damping plays an important role under laboratory conditions. The calculations of this paper are also used to improve the results of earlier investigations with mercury.