Search research articles

ABOUT JoVE

Overview Leadership Blog JoVE Help Center

AUTHORS

Publishing Process Editorial Board Scope & Policies Peer Review FAQ Submit

LIBRARIANS

Testimonials Subscriptions Access Resources Library Advisory Board FAQ

RESEARCH

JoVE Journal Methods Collections JoVE Encyclopedia of Experiments Archive

EDUCATION

JoVE Core JoVE Business JoVE Science Education JoVE Lab Manual Faculty Resource Center Faculty Site

Terms & Conditions of Use

Related Concept Videos

Vaporization

Vaporization

The physical form of a substance changes by changing its temperature. For example, raising the temperature of a liquid causes the liquid to vaporize (convert into vapor). The process is called vaporization—a surface phenomenon. For vaporization to occur, kinetic energy must be greater than the intermolecular forces that keep molecules bonded. The amount of energy needed to vaporize a quantity of liquid at a given pressure and a constant temperature is called the heat of vaporization. When...

Lossy Lines and Overvoltages

Lossy Lines and Overvoltages

Transmission-line series resistance and shunt conductance cause three primary effects: attenuation, distortion, and power losses.
Attenuation
When constant series resistance and shunt conductance are present, voltage and current equations are modified. The propagation constant indicates that voltage and current waves consist of both forward and backward traveling components. These waves attenuate as they propagate, with the attenuation factor related to the resistance and conductance. In a...

Phase Transitions: Vaporization and Condensation

Phase Transitions: Vaporization and Condensation

The physical form of a substance changes on changing its temperature. For example, raising the temperature of a liquid causes the liquid to vaporize (convert into vapor). The process is called vaporization—a surface phenomenon. Vaporization occurs when the thermal motion of the molecules overcome the intermolecular forces, and the molecules (at the surface) escape into the gaseous state. When a liquid vaporizes in a closed container, gas molecules cannot escape. As these gas phase molecules...

DC Battery

DC Battery

A conductor needs to be a component of a path that creates a closed loop or full circuit to have a continuous current flowing through it. A current starts to flow if an electric field is created inside an isolated conductor that is not part of a full circuit. The conductor quickly develops a net positive charge at one end and a net negative charge at the other. These charges generate an electric field opposite the direction of the applied electric field, which reduces the current. Eventually,...

The Electrical Double Layer

The Electrical Double Layer

In the region where two bulk phases meet, an intricate electric charge distribution arises due to charge transfer, ion adsorption, molecular orientation, and charge distortion. This complex distribution is commonly referred to as the electrical double layer.When a solid electrode interfaces with ions in an electrolyte solution, the speed of electron transfer dictates the rates of oxidation and reduction. The electrode acquires a charge through the escape of atoms into the solution as cations or...

Electrostatic Boundary Conditions in Dielectrics

Electrostatic Boundary Conditions in Dielectrics

When an electric field passes from one homogeneous medium to another, crossing the boundary between the two mediums imparts a discontinuity in the electric field. This results in electrostatic boundary conditions that depend on the type of mediums the field propagates through.
Consider a case where both the mediums across a boundary are two different dielectric materials. Recall that the electric field and electric displacement are proportional and related through the material's permittivity.

You might also read

Related Articles

Articles linked to this work by shared authors, journal, and citation graph.

Sort by

Same author

Third-order transport coefficient tensor of charged-particle swarms in electric and magnetic fields.

Physical review. E·2020

Same author

Acinetobacter baumannii biofilm biomass mediates tolerance to cold plasma.

Letters in applied microbiology·2019

Same author

Positron kinetics in an idealized PET environment.

Scientific reports·2015

Same author

Cryopreservation and Enumeration of Human Endothelial Progenitor and Endothelial Cells for Clinical Trials.

Journal of blood disorders & transfusion·2014

Same author

Atmospheric pressure, nonthermal plasma inactivation of MS2 bacteriophage: effect of oxygen concentration on virucidal activity.

Journal of applied microbiology·2013

Same author

IRF-1 responsiveness to IFN-γ predicts different cancer immune phenotypes.

British journal of cancer·2013

Same journal

Tension on dsDNA bound to ssDNA-RecA filaments may play an important role in driving efficient and accurate homology recognition and strand exchange.

Physical review. E, Statistical, nonlinear, and soft matter physics·2016

Same journal

Publisher's Note: Amplitude-phase coupling drives chimera states in globally coupled laser networks [Phys. Rev. E 91, 040901(R) (2015)].

Physical review. E, Statistical, nonlinear, and soft matter physics·2016

Same journal

Erratum: Shapes of sedimenting soft elastic capsules in a viscous fluid [Phys. Rev. E 92, 033003 (2015)].

Physical review. E, Statistical, nonlinear, and soft matter physics·2016

Same journal

Erratum: Attenuation of excitation decay rate due to collective effect [Phys. Rev. E 90, 022142 (2014)].

Physical review. E, Statistical, nonlinear, and soft matter physics·2016

Same journal

Publisher's Note: Role of connectivity and fluctuations in the nucleation of calcium waves in cardiac cells [Phys. Rev. E 92, 052715 (2015)].

Physical review. E, Statistical, nonlinear, and soft matter physics·2016

Same journal

Publisher's Note: Lattice Boltzmann approach for complex nonequilibrium flows [Phys. Rev. E 92, 043308 (2015)].

Physical review. E, Statistical, nonlinear, and soft matter physics·2016

See all related articles

Search research articles

Related Experiment Video

Updated: May 26, 2026

The Preparation of Electrohydrodynamic Bridges from Polar Dielectric Liquids

The Preparation of Electrohydrodynamic Bridges from Polar Dielectric Liquids

Published on: September 30, 2014

Electrical breakdown in water vapor.

N Skoro¹, D Marić, G Malović

¹Institute of Physics, University of Belgrade, Belgrade, Serbia. nskoro@ipb.ac.rs

Physical Review. E, Statistical, Nonlinear, and Soft Matter Physics

|December 21, 2011

Summary

This summary is machine-generated.

Researchers investigated the electrical breakdown of water vapor, finding a minimum voltage of 480 V. This study provides crucial data for understanding Paschen curves and electrical discharge in water vapor.

More Related Videos

In Situ Time-dependent Dielectric Breakdown in the Transmission Electron Microscope: A Possibility to Understand the Failure Mechanism in Microelectronic Devices

In Situ Time-dependent Dielectric Breakdown in the Transmission Electron Microscope: A Possibility to Understand the Failure Mechanism in Microelectronic Devices

Published on: June 26, 2015

Implementation of a Hyperbolic Vortex Plasma Reactor for the Removal of Micropollutants in Water

Implementation of a Hyperbolic Vortex Plasma Reactor for the Removal of Micropollutants in Water

Published on: July 25, 2025

Related Experiment Videos

Last Updated: May 26, 2026

The Preparation of Electrohydrodynamic Bridges from Polar Dielectric Liquids

The Preparation of Electrohydrodynamic Bridges from Polar Dielectric Liquids

Published on: September 30, 2014

In Situ Time-dependent Dielectric Breakdown in the Transmission Electron Microscope: A Possibility to Understand the Failure Mechanism in Microelectronic Devices

In Situ Time-dependent Dielectric Breakdown in the Transmission Electron Microscope: A Possibility to Understand the Failure Mechanism in Microelectronic Devices

Published on: June 26, 2015

Implementation of a Hyperbolic Vortex Plasma Reactor for the Removal of Micropollutants in Water

Implementation of a Hyperbolic Vortex Plasma Reactor for the Removal of Micropollutants in Water

Published on: July 25, 2025

Area of Science:

Plasma Physics
Electrical Engineering
Surface Science

Background:

Despite widespread applications of electrical discharges in biomedicine and recent studies involving water, fundamental breakdown parameters for water vapor remain under-investigated.
Existing research has not fully explored the Paschen curve region for water vapor, particularly around the minimum and to its left.

Purpose of the Study:

To investigate the electrical breakdown voltage of water vapor in the region around and to the left of the Paschen minimum.
To provide essential data on the basic parameters of electrical breakdown in water vapor.

Main Methods:

Paschen curves were measured by recording voltages and currents within the low-current Townsend discharge regime.
Breakdown voltages were determined by extrapolating measured current-voltage data to zero current.

Main Results:

The minimum electrical breakdown voltage for water vapor was determined to be 480 V.
This minimum occurred at a pressure times electrode distance (pd) product of approximately 0.6 Torr cm (0.8 Pa m).

Conclusions:

The study establishes key electrical breakdown characteristics for water vapor, particularly around the Paschen minimum.
These findings contribute to a deeper understanding of atomic and surface processes governing electrical breakdown in this medium.