Original poster: "Marco Denicolai" <marco.denicolai@xxxxxxxxxx>
There are two factors (both have been measured, just haven't got the data
here with me). There is thermal dilatation of the gas (air) and also ion
repulsion. Together, we are talking about several tens of milliseconds
(20-40 ms) before the space charge effect gets sensibly reduced.
> d) Does it affect the next bang? Does anything 'build up' over
> a series of bangs?
Oh yes, indeed. Affects even "within" the same bang. If the potential rises
too quickly, guess what, the streamer stops propagating! This happens
because the space charge prevents it. It's a complex story...
A steep perturbation (increase) of the applied voltage:
- during the first stages of the discharge as no effect
- in the middle of the discharge it chockes the leader
- near to the end of the discharge it starts the final jump (i.e. the
breakdown).