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Re: Corona and Sphere - Puzzle



In a message dated 99-10-23 07:51:14 EDT, you write:

<< >snip
 >         The question:  Why does a single rooted streamer or just a 
 >few streamers appear when the breakdown voltage of the sphere 
 >has clearly been reached?  Why not all around?
  >>snip

Malcolm, Boris, Terry, all,

I agree with Terry's comments about the ionization, etc.  Because it
ties in with the issue, I would just
like to add that the higher the break-rate, the more tendency there is
to form just one streamer, probably because the ionized path from the
previous bang is still well heated.  At high break-rates, a single streamer
can be produced by a relatively small toroid, but at low break-rates the
same system might produce the "gas burner" effect of a multitude of
small steamers around the toroid.  This coalescence aspect was 
discussed some time ago by Greg Leyh when he spoke of the effect
in his coils.  The effect might be more pronounced with corregated
toroids also.  The multiple corregated points *want* to produce multiple
streamers, but a high break rate suppresses them because the main
streamer path stays so hot in between bangs, that it's able to suck up
all the power from subsequent bangs as it re-ignites.

Cheers,
John Freau