Primary and secondary tip coronae from splashing water drops in electric fields

Abstract

An enquiry has been carried out into millimetre size water drops falling through vertical electric fields, at terminal and near terminal velocities, and impacting a water surface. A laboratory method was devised to electronically observe the splashing event, together with the onset, duration and magnitude of all ensuing coronae. The production of a secondary jet tip and the discovery of a previously unknown corona were originally recorded by Kinsey (1986) and are here described in detail. Emanating from the secondary jet tip, the corona is synonymous with the release and electrification of an airborne water drop and its nC range of charge transfer (being field/momentum dependant) offer low level luminosity to the dark adapted eye (mentioned by ur Rahman and Saunders, 1988).For terminal and near terminal velocity drops, the resulting water jets follow under-damped sinusoidal oscillation and, in fields above a critical value (Ec), their primary tips often support more than one corona, thus yielding charge to the aerosol and space charge below oceanic thunderstorms. Secondary tip, or jet drop, corona data show the phenomenon to occur in fields of 100Vcm−1 and maybe even lower. The role of such drops, in oceanic thunderstorm electrification, being subject to drop size, ambient field, updraft and wind shear speeds. Oscilloscopic and photographic evidence is presented in support of the discovered corona and oscillographs, photographs and data are taken from P. B. Kinsey Ph.D. thesis (1986).