The study of surface-discharge phenomena using ring-type electrodes

This paper reports several results obtained during an investigation of surface-discharge phenomena in gases using ring-type electrodes devised by the authors. Compared with other measurements the present method has the advantages of simplicity and accuracy when applied to the measurement of the velocity of positive and negative corona-discharge development and to the observation of `back-discharge' phenomena. It was found that the velocities of the positive and negative corona discharges were about 1·6 × 10 7 and 0·8 × 10 7 cm sec -1 respectively, and that back-discharge phenomena appeared before the applied pulse voltage dropped to zero.