ionized air lifter question

How much voltage do you need to create ionization around a wire...
and do the amps matter at all ?

I have been using 40kv at 1a, it works but i want to know if there is a
minimal breakdown voltage?

According to one of my textbooks, to ionize air at atmospheric pressure you need 3000000 volts/meter. That is the electric field you would need. That is when the air starts to break down and ionize, allowing it to conduct electricity.

I don't think the amps would matter in this case.

Originally posted by DragonsDemesne
According to one of my textbooks, to ionize air at atmospheric pressure you need 3000000 volts/meter. That is the electric field you would need. That is when the air starts to break down and ionize, allowing it to conduct electricity.

I don't think the amps would matter in this case.

Wikipedia has an article on commercial (well... space production) electrostatic ion engines. Note that they don't ionize air... probably because you don't get as much energy out of ionized air (in respect to what you put in) as you do with xenon:
en.wikipedia.org...

Xenon ?
O
I guess they must bring it with them on the ship to produce thrust.

3,000,000 per meter/ thanks !
Been looking for that.

Crap thats a lot 3megavolts per meter !
I guess it does translate well if you scale it down right ?

30,000 = 1 cm


PS: IS that square meter ?


[edit on 15-7-2006 by imbalanced]