An investigation of some of the physical phenomena of the electric discharge in gases

Abstract

The study reported here was undertaken for the purpose of securing a better understanding of the fundamental factors affecting the action of the electric discharge in gases, and for the purpose of attempting to obtain a milder discharge which might serve to produce more closely controlled chemical effects. While in a general sense it is based on the whole seventeen years of research on this subject made by the Bureau of Industrial Chemistry, it is more particularly a direct outgrowth of the work done during the three or four years just prior to its inception in 1944. While many new facts have come to light during this investigation, the work reported here should be considered only as one phase of the work that must be done in order to find ways of controlling the action of the discharge even more advantageously than has been done until now