Electrical Breakdown in Hydrogen at Low Pressures

Experimental and theoretical determinations of the static voltage-current characteristics, extending from the region of the Townsend (self-maintained) discharge to the normal glow discharge, have been carried out in hydrogen at low pressures, (7-25 mm Hg). The calculations, made on an electronic computer, were based on the distortion of the electric field by space charge, and used the experimentally determined variation of both the primary and secondary Townsend ionization coefficients on the ratio of the field to pressure. Good agreement is obtained between the measured and calculated breakdown and glow voltages, and both the experimental and theoretical curves of the characteristic are of similar shape.