The Electrical Breakdown Characteristics of the Water Vapor in Micrometer Gap Sizes

The liquid water-metal interface and the liquid water-gas interface, both play an important role in the initiation and the development of the electrical discharge in the gas bubbles. Evidence from the environmental application studies supports the strong dependence of the discharge properties on the applied voltage, the pressure and the electrode distance. This paper contains results of the experimental studies on the electrical breakdown characteristics in water in micrometers gap sizes. The minimum electrical breakdown voltage for water vapor was found to be around 618 V and 626 V at a pd (the pressure times the gap distance) value of around 0.7 Torr x cm (the pressure of 14.55 Torr) and 0.84 Torr x cm (for the pressure of 20.9 Torr), respectively.