Gymnotiform weakly electric fish find their way in the dark using a continuously operating active sensory system. An electric organ generates a continuous train of discharges (electric organ discharges, EODs), and tuberous high-frequency electroreceptors monitor the pattern of transcutaneous current flow associated with each EOD. Here, I report that a prior interruption to the continuous train ...

The formation of amino acids by the action of electric discharges on a mixture of methane, nitrogen, and water with traces of ammonia was studied in detail. The presence of glycine, alanine, alpha-amino-n-butyric acid, alpha-aminoisobutyric acid, valine, norvaline, isovaline, leucine, isoleucine, alloisoleucine, norleucine, proline, aspartic acid, glutamic acid, serine, threonine, allothreonine...

Recent advances in development of photoionization models in air based on radiative transfer and Helmholtz equations open new perspectives for efficient solution of nonthermal gas discharge problems involving complex geometries. Many practical applications require accurate modeling of streamer discharges developing in weak electric fields, in which the photoionization process significantly contr...

When a strong electric field is applied to nonconducting matter, narrow channels of plasma called streamers may form. Branchlike patterns of streamers have been observed in anode directed discharges. We explain a mechanism for branching as the result of a balance between the destabilizing effect of impact ionization and the stabilizing effect of electron diffusion on ionization fronts. The disp...

[1] We examined wideband electric fields, electric and magnetic field derivatives, and narrowband VHF (36 MHz) radiation bursts produced by 157 compact intracloud discharges (CIDs). These poorly understood lightning events appear to be the strongest natural producers of HF‐VHF radiation. All the events transported negative charge upward (or lowered positive charge), 150 were located by the U.S....

A review of perturbation diagnostics applied to microwave resonant cavity discharges is presented. The classical microwave perturbation technique examines the shift in the resonant frequency and cavity quality factor of the resonant cavity caused by low-electron density discharges. However, the modifications presented allow the analysis to be applied to discharges with electron densities beyond...

Bursts of regular microsecond-scale electric field pulses produced by three multiple-stroke cloud-to-ground discharges (a total of 2782 pulses) and by three cloud discharges (a total of 1436 pulses), all recorded within 20 km or so at the NASA Kennedy Space Center, are analyzed. The regular pulse bursts are similar in both cloud-to-ground and cloud discharges. A burst is characterized by some t...

<p>Vegetable oils have been an alternative to mineral oil for oil-immersed transformers due concern on less flammable, environmental-friendly, biodegradable, and sustainable resources of petroleum-based insulating oil. This paper presents the effect electrical discharges (200 up 1000 discharges) under 50 Hz inhomogeneous electric field properties (acidity, water content, breakdown voltage...