| Abstract: | In the present paper we have considered thermal instability in a heat conducting micropolar fluid layer under the influence of a transverse magnetic field. Assuming the bounding surfaces to be rigid the eigenvalue problem is solved using finite-difference and Wilkinson's iteration techniques. Here it is seen that the instability sets in not only for adverse temperature gradient but also for positive temperature gradient. Both the microtation and the magnetic field are seen to stabilize the fluid layer. However, the stabilizing effect of microrotation becomes less significant when the strength of the magnetic field is large. In the case of heating from below, the critical wave number is seen to be insensitive to increase in the strength of the magnetic field, while it increases significantly when the fluid is heated from above. |
