Recently I've gotten involved with a group of high altitude balloon
hobbyists. We're always looking for interesting experiments to try in the
stratosphere, and I thought of one with HV application. I'd like to run it
by everyone here as a thought-experiment first.
Air is a dielectric. Not a great one, but a sufficient air gap between two
electrodes prevents arcing. (I may not be expressing this the best way, but
you all know what I mean.) If you lower the air pressure greatly, would a
high voltage spark leap across the same distance? I imagine something like a
charged flash capacitor being lofted in a balloon. The poles of the cap are
connected to electrodes separated by a gap sufficient to prevent discharge
at normal air pressure. If the balloon lifts the apparatus to, say, 100,000
feet, will we see the apparatus arc over when the air is sufficiently
attenuated? Or will we get a kind of corona glow? Or nothing?
A camera would be pointed at the gap to film the result.
Paul Thompson
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