Open AccessPotential gradient in glow discharges from a poInt to a plane
Author(s) -
J. W. Bispham
Publication year - 1908
Publication title -
proceedings of the royal society of london. series a, containing papers of a mathematical and physical character
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
eISSN - 2053-9150
pISSN - 0950-1207
DOI - 10.1098/rspa.1908.0109
Subject(s) - glow discharge , plane (geometry) , conical surface , atomic physics , point (geometry) , ion , physics , sign (mathematics) , chemistry , mechanics , materials science , plasma , geometry , mathematics , quantum mechanics , composite material , mathematical analysis
The original object of the experiment described in this paper was the investigation of the distribution of electric force along the axis of glow discharges from a charged point to a neighbouring plane in the case when striae are visible. Such discharges are described by V. Obermayer. The appearance of the discharge—as Prof. Thomson has pointed out—suggests that the current is not merely carried by ions of the same sign as the discharging point. Obermayer notes, however, that the type of discharge obtained varies considerably with the capacity shunted across the terminals of the discharge, and also depends on the self-induction in the circuit, indicating that the discharges are of an oscillatory or intermittent character (see fig. 6, A, B, D, and E). The following experiments lead to the conclusion thatall the types of striated glow discharge described by Obermayer, in which the glow spreads out from the point to the plate in a more or less conical form, are of an intermittent character.