Mastering Arc Discharge: From Avalanche to Conduction

Added: 2026-05-21

[00:00:00]How can we control an arc?

[00:00:06]When you apply high voltage first, there is what's called an electron avalanche.

[00:00:11]That's called electron avalanche, and that's the first thing that happens in all of the discharges, pretty much all of them. In general, that thing, that process, the avalanche, the electron avalanche, happens on a nanosecond time scale.

[00:00:26]So, maybe subnanosecond, maybe 2 nanoseconds.

[00:00:31]Then, you're left with the, you know, electrons flew away, so you're left with this positive column, and this column can already conduct current. Lots of physics there, but that process is called streamer.

[00:00:45]So, you have avalanche first, nanosecond time scale. You have streamer formation, which in general is like 10 nanoseconds, or so.

[00:00:56]Then, you can conduct current.

[00:01:00]Spark transition is an order of microseconds, right?

[00:01:06]So, you have nanosecond to 10 nanoseconds to many hundreds of nanoseconds, or even a microsecond, or two, or five, depending on your conditions.

[00:01:18]And then, after the spark, now you have a solid conducting channel.

[00:01:24]Keep in mind, that's a channel of flowing charges, so that has its own magnetic field.

[00:01:31]And then, you have transition to arc again, as long as your power supply can supply it, as long as all the conditions are appropriate. And transition to arc is on the order of microseconds and more.

[00:01:47]So, could be even, you know, millisecond, depending on the distances and and what gas you're in, and all sorts of stuff. So, you have nanosecond, [snorts] 10 nanoseconds, how many hundreds of uh nanoseconds and microseconds.