Abstract
II. AMONG the various circumstances which combine to determine the character of the discharge, one of the most important is the size of the negative terminal. And in this respect, as well as in others, the negative differs fundamentally from the positive. If the negative be small, not so much in comparison with the positive as in absolute magnitude, and perhaps al o in reference to the diameter of the tube, the tube will offer great “resistance,” as it is termed, to the passage of the discharge. On the other hand, if the negative be large, the discharge passes with comparative ease. In the first case, even when the discharge passes, striæ are formed only with difficulty, if at all; in the second they are readily formed. This may easily be shown by using a tube with one small and one large terminal, which can be used alternately as positive and as negative; or by a tube having a negative terminal of variable length.
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The Electrical Discharge, its Forms and its Functions 1 . Nature 24, 569–573 (1881). https://doi.org/10.1038/024569a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/024569a0