How Electric Sparks Work

B. E. Carlson STAR Lab, Stanford University

Outline

Electron Avalanche Streamers Leaders Lightning

Start with the basics...

V=IR
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Start with the basics...

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Ohm's law (conductor)

or
current density = conductivity * electric field microscopically... power dissipation? E-field acceleration collisions equilibrium: energy gain = energy loss

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In a dielectric?
electrons not always "free" attachment: electron attaches to atom, produces ion.

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Attachment and ionization

Attachment Ionization
photoionization: collisional ionization:

In any real material, will have both.

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Ionization vs. attachment

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Ionization wins?
- Collisional ionization - Avalanche of electrons - For E>3.2 MV/m in air
E

ions stay here

electrons go here
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Electron avalanche
Not much to look at. Properties:
radius 10-50 um speed 105 m/s (in air)

Basic instability!

cloud chamber photo

(K. R. Allen, K. Phillips, P.R.S. A, Math. and Phys. Sci., Vol. 274, No. 1357 (Jul. 23, 1963))
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Digression: HV in the lab

Tesla coil Cockroft-Wolton multiplier

Marx generator Van de Graaff gen.

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Avalanches are small...

...so what if we have lots of them?

avalanches leave charge behind, field intensifies.

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Streamers
avalanche-fed lengthening channel: streamer.

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Streamers
streamer head photo (false color)

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Streamers
streamer tip E-field simulation

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What about negative?

(that was all for a positive electrode)

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Positive and negative streamers

Positive streamer:
move as a positive charge. electron avalanches towards tip. avalanches started by photoionization. initiate at 3 MV/m can propagate at 0.5 MV/m

Negative streamer:

moves as a negative charge. avalanches move away from tip. avalanches started by collisional ionization. initiate at 3 MV/m can propagate down to 1.5 MV/m
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Other streamer properties

Speed: 2 km/s to 50 km/s
depending on E

Current: ~50 mA for ~100 ns

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Corona discharge
Intense field near electrode, but nothing nearby. streamers initiate, propagate, but don't hit anything.

Appears as a glow surrounding object.

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St. Elmo's Fire

Corona flow ship masts, mountaintops, aircraft wings...

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Digression: Kirlian photography

Contact print of corona discharge.

bioenergy of astral body? phantom limbs? aura? chi? orgone energy? no.

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Streamers and leaders

Many avalanches => streamer.
What if we have many streamers?

streamers heat, heat ionizes, plasma conducts.

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Leaders
series of photos of leader bridging a gap.

When leader reaches the other side, there's a conducting channel between + and -.
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Leader properties
Temperature:
electron temp: ~25000 K gas temp: ~5000 K

Speed

10 to 1000 km/s

Propagation

whenever E > 0.1 MV/m

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A word about scaling...

Most of the above is for air.
...things depend on density.

behavior scales as E/n for example:

breakdown field at sea level ~ 3.2 MV/m at 10 km altitude ~ 0.9 MV/m

so you can scale with density, find out what happens in your favorite problem.

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Digression: Lichtenberg figures

streamers, leaders driven by E, act to drain/deposit charge... i.e. fill space.

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Complicated!
Streak camera photo of leader bridging gap

complicated, intricated, intermittent... but it looks like lightning.

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Study of dielectric breakdown

Avalanche Streamer Leader approx. Marx gen., streak camera Lightning? approx models can't experiment. HF radio, balloons... monte carlo 3d plasma physics cloud chamber Van de Graaff, streak camera

gap!
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Gap/Digression: Fulgurites
lightning hits sandy soil, melts it into glass.

compared to Lichtenberg figures... quite a gap.

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Across the gap: Lightning

Storm charge structure... something like this?

humidity, condensation heating, lapse rate, conditional instability, convection... graupel, rime ice, hail, snow, supercooled water... triboelectricity, inductive charging, screening charges, conductivity profiles...
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Storm charge structure

nah. too hard! how about this?

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Basic types of lightning

Intracloud: IC

Cloud to Ground
Negative: -CG Positive: +CG

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Thunderstorm electrification

Triboelectric charging, inductive charging, etc. Seems to happen with water/ice mixture. ...but still a puzzle.
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Storm E-fields, lightning initiation

Send a balloon through, measure E. Not big enough! ... so how's it start? Field enhancement droplet distortion streamer interaction cosmic rays relativistic particle avalanche

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Lightning leader propagation

Lightning emits HF pulses. Track HF pulses, triangulate positions, get 3d map.

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Lightning leader propagation

movie!
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Return strokes
Short circuit cloud to ground. Properties:
speed: 0.3 to 0.5 c current: 100 kA charge: 100 C diameter: 3-5 cm temp: 20000 K timescale: 100 us

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Subsequent return strokes

Dart leader, process repeats:
about 4 times, separated by 30-60 ms.

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Digression: triggered lightning

launch a wire with a rocket.

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Ball lightning?
Lots of (varied) historical accounts. Lots of nutty ideas (UFOs, ghosts...) Not a lot of actual evidence. Meager actual science: vaporized silicon? nanoparticle clouds? hallucinations?

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Digression: How to not die

4 easy steps:
0. don't be a golfer. 1. get out of the storm. 2. stay away from lone tall objects. 3. crouch, feet together. 4. you'll probably survive anyway.

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Other phenomena
Blue jets (upward lightning) Gigantic blue jets Elves / EMP Sprites TGFs (nah.)

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Thanks for your time!

Any questions?

This talk was made possible by the work of hundreds of people who figured out the details of atmospheric electricity, from Ben Franklin to Umran Inan. Special thanks to the internet from which I borrowed most of the photos.

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