Abstract
LUMINOUS corona discharges occur when transient voltages, lasting about a microsecond, are applied between a wire and a small coaxially mounted ring in air. I have photographed these discharges and find that their shapes differ with the polarity of the electrodes. When the wire is made the negative electrode the discharge has the form of diffuse tufts, which are grouped around the wire into a roughly symmetrical brush; when positive, the discharge occurs in radial filaments (Figs. 1 and 2). Viewed along the axis the shape of a corona discharge resembles the Liehtenberg figure corresponding to the same polarity, which is produced by a discharge in air on an insulating surface between concentric electrodes1 (Figs. 3 and 4).
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References
Merrill and von Hippel, J. App. Phys., 10, 891 (1939).
Looms, Report to B.E.A.I.R.A., S/B/T.124 (1955).
Bellaschi and Teage, Elect. Eng., 53, 1638 (1934).
Bowdler and Standring, J. Inst. Elect. Eng., 88, II, 5 (1941).
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LOOMS, J. Electrical Discharges between Coaxial Electrodes. Nature 181, 696–697 (1958). https://doi.org/10.1038/181696a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/181696a0
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