Vaporization and Breakdown of Thin Columns of Water

Measurements have been made of the behavior of a conducting column of water when subjected to a pulsed high voltage. Such a column serves as the prototype of the breakdown of soil based on vaporization and ionization of water paths within the soil. The results have been interpreted in terms of heating of the water column to the vaporization temperature, vaporization and expansion of the vapor to fill the capillary, and finally creation of a high resistance plasma state extending over the length of the capillary. Arc-over occurs only after the plasma reaches its negative resistance region.