2008/05/31 by T. M. P. Briels, T M P Briels, E M van Veldhuizen +3 · 3 citations
Engineering · Medicine · Physics and Astronomy · #Lightning and Electromagnetic Phenomena #Plasma Applications and Diagnostics #Power Transformer Diagnostics and Insulation #physics.geo-ph #physics.plasm-ph
paper · pdf · doi:10.1088/0022-3727/41/23/234008
published as J. Phys. D: Appl. Phys. 41 (2008) 234008 · 24 pages, 11 figures, accepted for J. Phys. D
arxiv created 2008/09/02 · openalex publication_date 2008/11/20 · arxiv updated 2009/12/01 · openalex created_date 2016/06/24 · openalex updated_date 2026/08/01
Positive streamers in ambient air at pressures from 0.013 to 1 bar are investigated experimentally. The voltage applied to the anode needle ranges from 5 to 45 kV, the discharge gap from 1 to 16 cm. Using a 'slow' voltage rise time of 100–180 ns, the streamers are intentionally kept thin. For each pressure p , we find a minimal diameter d min . To test whether streamers at different pressures are similar, the minimal streamer diameter d min is multiplied by its pressure p ; we find this product to be well approximated by p · d min = 0.20 ± 0.02 mm bar over two decades of air pressure at room temperature. The value also fits diameters of sprite discharges above thunderclouds at an altitude of 80 km when extrapolated to room temperature (as air density rather than pressure determines the physical behaviour). The minimal velocity of streamers in our measurements is approximately 0.1 mm ns −1 = 10 5 m s −1 . The same minimal velocity has been reported for tendrils in sprites. We also investigate the size of the initial ionization cloud at the electrode tip from which the streamers emerge, and the streamer length between branching events. The same quantities are also measured in nitrogen with a purity of approximately 99.9%. We characterize the essential differences with streamers in air and find a minimal diameter of p · d min = 0.12 ± 0.02 mm bar in our nitrogen.