  Explosive phenomena are known to trigger a wealth of shocks in warm plasma
environments, including the solar chromosphere and molecular clouds where the
medium consists of both ionised and neutral species. Partial ionisation is
critical in determining the behaviour of shocks, since the ions and neutrals
locally decouple, allowing for substructure to exist within the shock.
Accurately modelling partially ionised shocks requires careful treatment of the
ionised and neutral species, and their interactions. Here we study a
partially-ionised switch-off slow-mode shock using a multi-level hydrogen model
with both collisional and radiative ionisation and recombination rates that are
implemented into the two-fluid (P\underline{I}P) code, and study physical
parameters that are typical of the solar chromosphere. The multi-level hydrogen
model differs significantly from MHD solutions due to the macroscopic thermal
energy loss during collisional ionisation. In particular, the plasma
temperature both post-shock and within the finite-width is significantly cooler
that the post-shock MHD temperature. Furthermore, in the mid to lower
chromosphere, shocks feature far greater compression then their single-fluid
MHD analogues. The decreased temperature and increased compression reveal the
importance of non-equilibrium ionised in the thermal evolution of shocks in
partially ionised media. Since partially ionised shocks are not accurately
described by the Rankine-Hugoniot shock jump conditions, it may be incorrect to
use these to infer properties of lower atmospheric shocks.
