Measuring Electrical Arcs At the Micrometer Scale

Air is a great insulator—except when it becomes a conductor. Under the right conditions, miniature lightning bolts of electricity will “arc” through the air between two electrically conducting points. Engineers can accurately predict how this happens on the macroscopic scale—when electricity from a downed power line, for example, jumps to a nearby metal object—but less is known about the process at the micro scale.

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All News summaries for March 30, 2006