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Concept
Electric arc
Summary
An electric arc (or arc discharge) is an electrical breakdown of a gas that produces a prolonged electrical discharge. The current through a normally nonconductive medium such as air produces a plasma, which may produce visible light. An arc discharge is initiated either by thermionic emission or by field emission. After initiation, the arc relies on thermionic emission of electrons from the electrodes supporting the arc.
An arc discharge is characterized by a lower voltage than a glow discharge. An archaic term is voltaic arc, as used in the phrase "voltaic arc lamp".
Techniques for arc suppression can be used to reduce the duration or likelihood of arc formation.
In the late 19th century, electric arc lighting was in wide use for public lighting.
Some low-pressure electric arcs are used in many applications. For example, fluorescent tubes, mercury, sodium, and metal-halide lamps are used for lighting; xenon arc lamps have been used for movie projectors. Electric arcs can be utilized for manufacturing processes, such as electric arc welding, and electric arc furnaces for steel recycling.
Sir Humphry Davy discovered the short-pulse electrical arc in 1800. In 1801, he described the phenomenon in a paper published in William Nicholson's Journal of Natural Philosophy, Chemistry and the Arts. According to modern science, Davy's description was a spark rather than an arc. In the same year Davy publicly demonstrated the effect, before the Royal Society, by transmitting an electric current through two carbon rods that touched, and then pulling them a short distance apart. The demonstration produced a "feeble" arc, not readily distinguished from a sustained spark, between charcoal points. The Society subscribed for a more powerful battery of 1,000 plates, and in 1808 he demonstrated the large-scale arc. He is credited with naming the arc. He called it an arc because it assumes the shape of an upward bow when the distance between the electrodes is not small. This is due to the buoyant force on the hot gas.
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