The transient glow discharge in nitrogen and dry air

Abstract

The duration of the transient glow discharge preceding the arc stage of uniform-field gas breakdown has been measured for nitrogen and air. These measurements have been made for gaps up to 3 cm at gas pressures of 300 and 500 Torr, in the overvoltage range 4%less-than-or-eq, slantΔVless-than-or-eq, slant20%. It has been shown that the glow duration is strongly dependent upon the equivalent series circuit resistance, and this explains the poor agreement between the results of previous investigations. During spark conditioning, a form of breakdown consisting of a very diffuse glow, with no subsequent arc discharge, has been observed. Some of the factors affecting the occurrence of this interesting phenomenon have been studied.