Re: static gap voltage

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

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

At 05:06 PM 3/3/2003 -0700, you wrote:
>Original poster: "Rodney Goolsby by way of Terry Fritz 
><teslalist-at-qwest-dot-net>" <jeronimo-at-bright-dot-net>
>
>I'm wondering how much voltage to allow per mm. in a simple static spark 
>gap.  I was thinking 1000v./mm, just wondering what other people use to 
>give me a ballpark area to play with.
>thanks

In a uniform field, the breakdown field for air is about 30 kV/cm.. In most 
static gaps, the breakdown will be somewhat less, since a)the field isn't 
uniform and b) the electrodes are likely hot...

your 10 kV/cm number is probably in the ballpark, but you might want to 
design for a gap that is somewhat smaller (say, 15 kV/cm?)