Re: Minimum arc voltage of air was: Definitions of High Voltage

["Tesla list" <tesla-at-pupman-dot-com>]

Original poster: "davep by way of Terry Fritz <twftesla-at-qwest-dot-net>" <davep-at-quik-dot-com>

> somebody should try this.

	Its been done in the labs several times.
	A friend of mine did it  (lost touch with him).
	Others did it in the past, published the
	results.

> You could rig up some fine thread bolts as electrodes,

	And a microscope, and monitor the current.
	I haven't the report titles, but may be something
	findable on the web.  Certainly something findable
	with real library search.

> and hook up a variac with a DMM to a 12kV neon (12kV units are
> 1:100) and feed it 34.00 volts. I may try this, but not for a

> little while.
	I'm not discouraging the effort, but its been

	done

 
> ---------------------------------------
> Jonathon Reinhart
> hot-streamer-dot-com/jonathon
> 
> 
>>>Interesting is the fact that bellow 300-400 V in a
>>>very narrow gap there is still no gas discharge before
>>>metal to metal touch (standard atm. conditions).
>>>
>>Yes, it is interesting. North states that 340 is the "absolute minimum"
>>(in air), therefore, anything below this value should not arc a gap
>>regardless of eletrode size, shape, gap distance, or barometric
>>pressure. He goes on to say that breakdown voltage decreases as pressure
>>decreases until the 340V minimum is reached, due to the fact that as the
>>melocular density of air is reduced, there is greater likelihood that a
>>free ion can traverse the space between electrodes without running into
>>something. But (here's the thing), as pressure is further reduced, the
>>required voltage for breakdown increases once again because a more
>>limited number of air molecules make ionization more difficult. So, we
>>have a dip and it's value is 340V. Thus, it's the physical makeup of air
>>and pressure that give us this minimum voltage.
	Finding the North report (reports?) would be a reasonable

	starting point...

	Full title, and et would help.

-- 
	best
	dwp

...the net of a million lies...
	Vernor Vinge
There are Many Web Sites which Say Many Things.
	-me