Researchers Unravel the Path of Electrical Discharges on Scales that are Phenomenally Small and Fleetingly Brief, Shedding Light on Future Innovations
Tuesday, August 21, 2018 - 11:30
in Physics & Chemistry
Innovations on the microscale depend on understanding and predicting the behavior of electricity on the smallest of length scales. Scientists already have a good grasp of "electrical breakdown," when electricity jumps across large gaps and creates plasma. However, researchers have had little insight into the behavior of electricity as it jumps across very small gaps until now. A team reports new research, in the Physics of Plasmas, that shines light on the behavior of electrical breakdown for the smallest gap distances ever studied: a mere 5 to 10 microns.