skip to main content
OSTI.GOV title logo U.S. Department of Energy
Office of Scientific and Technical Information

Title: On the instability of conical protrusions of liquid surface in electric field

Journal Article · · Journal of Experimental and Theoretical Physics
 [1]
  1. Russian Academy of Sciences, Institute for High Energy Densities, Joint Institute for High Temperatures (Russian Federation), E-mail: a_petrin@mail.ru

Electric field is analyzed at the tip of the conical protrusion of a conductive liquid surface that forms as the field strength approaches certain threshold values. When the field exceeds the threshold, the cone tip generally becomes unstable and emits a slender jet. The field strength at the sharp tip of a conducting liquid cone tends to infinity. Even though the field has a singularity, the cone tip becomes unstable only if the semi-cone angle decreases below the Taylor angle, which is the same for all conducting liquids. It is shown that similar conical protrusions can form if the liquid is a dielectric and its permittivity is sufficiently high. In this case, the equilibrium cone angle depends on the permittivity. When the permittivity is lower than approximately 17.60, cones cannot form, and the ensuing phenomena do not occur.

OSTI ID:
21075639
Journal Information:
Journal of Experimental and Theoretical Physics, Vol. 105, Issue 6; Other Information: DOI: 10.1134/S1063776107120151; Copyright (c) 2007 Nauka/Interperiodica; Article Copyright (c) 2007 Pleiades Publishing, Inc; Country of input: International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA); ISSN 1063-7761
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English

Similar Records

Capillary electrohydrostatics of conducting drops hanging from a nozzle in an electric field
Journal Article · Wed Dec 01 00:00:00 EST 1993 · Journal of Colloid and Interface Science; (United States) · OSTI ID:21075639

{ital In} {ital situ} observation of the tip shape of Co{endash}Ge liquid alloy ion sources in a high-voltage transmission electron microscope
Journal Article · Wed May 01 00:00:00 EDT 1996 · Journal of Vacuum Science and Technology. B, Microelectronics Processing and Phenomena · OSTI ID:21075639

Effect of microscale protrusions on local fluid flow and mass transport in the presence of forced convection
Thesis/Dissertation · Wed Jan 01 00:00:00 EST 1997 · OSTI ID:21075639