Talk:Paschen's law

message: Trojancowboy (talk) 03:05, 23 December 2010 (UTC)
replies: text: V=\frac{apd}{\ln(bpd)}.
Where V is the breakdown voltage, p is the pressure, d is the gap distance. The constants a and b depend upon the composition of the gas. For air at standard atmospheric pressure of 101 kPa, a = 43.6×106 V/(atm·m) and b = 3.62x105/(atm·m).  — Preceding unsigned comment added by 85.81.102.102 (talk) 21:02, 11 July 2011 (UTC)

message: In the section "Paschen curve", the description repeatedly states 7.5 mm, whilst in the explanation (2 paragraphs below), 7.5 um is mentioned. I don't have the time to check which one is correct, but this inconsistency should be weeded out!  --83.65.160.242 (talk) 08:13, 3 August 2011 (UTC)
replies: text: Not inconsistent - one is at 0.001 atmospheres, the other at 1 atmosphere. --Wtshymanski (talk) 13:44, 3 August 2011 (UTC)
replies: text:  This should be made clear. Currently it is not - I had the exact same confusion.18.38.2.39 (talk) 17:53, 28 October 2011 (UTC)
replies: text:  ...For example, at a pressure of 10-3 atmospheres, the distance for minimum breakdown voltage is about 7.5 mm. ..., and This is 327 V in air at standard atmospheric pressure at a distance of 7.5 µm. How would you suggest clarifying this? The whole article is talking about the effect of pressure on minimum breakdwon voltage and gaps, I don't see how to change this. --Wtshymanski (talk) 17:58, 28 October 2011 (UTC)
thread_title: Consistency

message: The page could do with a better writeup. It took me several minutes of thinking to realize from the equation that, regardless of the pressure and distance, there is a certain absolute minimum voltage required to cause a spark that is a constant. What I mean is, if I have two objects with a variety of distances to one another, at a given pressure, then the formation of a spark from any point to any other point (considering all possible distances) requires that minimum voltage. As noted by other comments above, there is also a units inconsistency.
I think the equation would be much better written out as:
: V = \frac{V_{\rm min} pd/c}{1+\ln(pd/c)} 
Advantages:
* It is no longer necessary to demand certain units for pd, since we will naturally compensate them when dividing by c.
* The value Vmin is the minimum voltage required to cause a spark under any possible conditions (at any pressure, at any distance), whereas V is the minimum voltage required to cause a spark under specific conditions (at a certain pressure and distance).
* The value of c is the critical value of pd where V is lowest, i.e., where V falls to Vmin.
The relationships between the different constants are of course:
:c = e^{1-b} \times (1\, \mathrm{atm\, m}), \quad V_{\rm min} = ac 
--Nanite (talk) 10:51, 4 September 2013 (UTC)
thread_title:  better equation and easier explanation 

message: I moved the following comment by  from the article here:
— HHHIPPO 19:08, 3 April 2014 (UTC)
thread_title:  Wrong curve 

message: The article states, "Per length of path x a number of \alpha ionizations will occur." Shouldn't this read "a number \alpha of ionizations will occur"? ᛭ LokiClock (talk) 06:01, 2 August 2015 (UTC)
thread_title:  Typo in defining first Townshend coefficient? 

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thread_title:  External links modified 

message: The text mixes "B" for most of the equations, and "b" for the minimum, and "b" is never defined.   From the Talk page, it seems they might be the same thing.  In the article it is a mystery.  Also, that section needs citations.  — Preceding unsigned comment added by DrKN1 (talk • contribs) 22:10, 28 March 2017 (UTC)
thread_title:  Unclear 

message: The Townsend equations do not include beta, which is present throughout both of Townsend's books, and does include gamma, which is not visible so far as I have looked in that material either. Also I can't find any equation matching the final results given here in the books, it must need to be derived. This derivation should be made explicit as it is not included in the source material. Mr. HelloBye (talk) 20:22, 2 December 2022 (UTC)
thread_title:  Equations do not match cited source material