Abstract
IT was originally supposed that separating contacts in low-voltage, low-inductance circuits interrupted the current without arcing provided the supply voltage was lower than the ionization potential of the contact metal, and that the circuit inductance was not greater than about a microhenry. However, inconsistencies in the values of the measured ‘fine transfer’ obtained under these so-called arc-free conditions led to the supposition that arcs might be present1, and this was confirmed by Lander2, who published an oscillographic record of an arc obtained between separating gold contacts in a 6-volt, 1 microhenry circuit carrying a current of 1 ampere.
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References
Holm, R., “Electric Contacts” (Gebers Förlag, Stockholm, 1946). Lander, J. J., and Germer, L. H., J. App. Phys., 19, 910 (1948).
Lander, J. J., J. App. Phys., 19, 1128 (1948).
Germer, L. H., and Haworth, F. E., J. App. Phys., 20, 1085 (1949).
Germer, L. H., and Smith, J. L., J. App. Phys., 23, 553 (1952).
Warham, J., J. Inst. Elect. Eng., 100, Part 1, 163 (1953); Inst. Elect. Eng. Mono. No. 103 (July 1954).
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RIDDLESTONE, J. Low-voltage, Short-duration Arcs between Separating Contacts in Low-voltage, substantially Non-inductive Circuits. Nature 175, 909 (1955). https://doi.org/10.1038/175909a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/175909a0
