Re: Speed of Streamer formation

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

Original poster: "Jim Lux by way of Terry Fritz <twftesla-at-qwest-dot-net>" <jimlux-at-earthlink-dot-net>


> I suggest that gradual growth of streamer length may be due
> to increasing number of ions present in the immediate
> vicinity.  Recombination (and air mixing) take a finite
> period of time...

The "burning" question.. how long?  Clearly, it's not just the cooling of
the plasma until it stops conducting (which happens VERY fast, considering
that there's a pretty sharp knee in the conductivity vs temp curve).
Although, the radiation cooling (probably dominant?) does go as T^4, so it
might stay pretty hot, but not radiant (at least in visible..). Hmmm..

This is an area that isn't covered by much of the spark literature.....