Re: A maximum acceleration ?

[brian whatcott <inet@intellisys.net>]

At 10:13 11/30/97 -0800, John Mallinckrodt wrote:
> On Sun, 30 Nov 1997, brian whatcott wrote:
>
> > You are indeed wrong to think that electric breakdown does not occur in the
> > vacuum. It is intuitively plausible but in fact, the breakdown voltage
> > is smaller for a given vacuum gap than for an air gap. This was a matter of
> > considerable practical importance when high power radars were carried to
> > great heights, where they proceeded to misbehave until their waveguides
> > were pressurized.
>
> Well, I think this is another case of the conflict between the ideal,
> which is what Ludwik is interested in, and the "merely" practical--that
> which brian is so adept at reminding us all of.  
>
> Clearly, to the extent that "electric breakdown" requires the presence of
> a gas, it simply cannot happen in a vacuum.

> A. John Mallinckrodt  


I can see that John is not easily pursuaded.

It will be necessary to appeal to experiment:

1) provide two adjacent point electrodes of "molecular"
sharpness.
2) Increase the electric field between the points,
taking care that the vacuum is maintained at the highest 
obtainable levels by positioning in space or by means of 
getters.
3) High field emission of electrons will soon create a 
plasma discharge at a vacuum so high that it passes
Ludwik's standard of idealisation.

Sincerely,
brian whatcott <inet@intellisys.net>
Altus OK