Which direction does the electrical field point in an electrical arc?

[mike963]

ok, so I've got an arc between two electrodes. What is the direction of the electrical field if there is an electrical field?

 

[dvchench]

it's probably more appropriate to put this in the homework sections. ( since this problem seems purely theoretical and i don't see how you could be dealing with this in real life)

i don't really know, but my guess it away from the arc, since it may be a bunch of electrons moving through air. however, it's probably not so simple since the air turns into plasma.

 

[vk6kro]

Electrons in an arc follow the direction of an electric field.

The electric field is between the two electrodes.

 

[dvchench]

Electrons in an arc follow the direction of an electric field.

The electric field is between the two electrodes.

just out of curiosity, would the arc itself generate a field?

 

[vk6kro]

Yes, but a magnetic field in the form of a circular pattern concentric with the arc. This is no different to a current flowing in a wire.

 

[mike963]

that was my guess, dvchench, but for what I'm doing i hope vk6kro is right.

 

[mike963]

thanks dvchench, that pretty much confirms what i thought.

 

[mike963]

...and vk6kro

 

[dvchench]

doesn't a wire with current flowing through it have a surface charge density along its circumference that generates an e-field away from the center of the wire? can't quite remember that part of EM1 that well... I know that was the basis of most of our image theory problems -- a high-voltage, high-current "power line" above the earth-ground plane generating an E-field.