Journal of Physics: Conference Series

PAPER • OPEN ACCESS You may also like

- Adjustable Silicon Corner Rounding
Investigation of the electric field of the plasma ball Radius by Wet Technique
Pei-Ting Tou, Hsin-Yi Liao, Hui-Chin
Huang et al.
To cite this article: R F Yunusov and E R Yunusova 2020 J. Phys.: Conf. Ser. 1683 032006
- Holographic thermal field theory on curved
spacetimes
Donald Marolf, Mukund Rangamani and
Toby Wiseman

View the article online for updates and enhancements. - (Invited, Digital Presentation) In-Situ
Prussian Blue Formation on Intrinsic Iron-
Containing MWCNT As a Template and Its
Scanning Electrochemical Microscopic
Interrogation and Hydrogen Peroxide
Electrocatalysis
Annamalai Senthil Kumar, Saikrithika
Sairaman and Yashly K Yesudas

This content was downloaded from IP address 122.201.21.117 on 24/01/2023 at 01:41

The Third Conference "Problems of Thermal Physics and Power Engineering" IOP Publishing
Journal of Physics: Conference Series 1683 (2020) 032006 doi:10.1088/1742-6596/1683/3/032006

Investigation of the electric field of the plasma ball

R F Yunusov¹ and E R Yunusova²

¹Kazan National Research Technical University named by A.N. Tupolev,420111, K.

Marx str., 10, Kazan, Russian Federation
²City Clinical Hospital №7, 420103, Marshal Chuykov str., 54, Kazan, Russian
Federation

E-mail: [email protected]

Abstract Currently produced plasma balls have various design features and purposes. At the
same time, the principle of operation of the plasma ball (PB) is described only in general terms
and is of both scientific and practical interest. For the possibility of using PB in various
technological areas [1-6], including in medicine, it is necessary to investigate the electric field
created by this device. In this work, experiments were conducted on the study of the electric
field PB: the interaction of PB with the conductor, gas-discharge light sources, and the
propagation of the electromagnetic field PB over a distance. The values of the electric field
strength outside PB and its dependence on distance were obtained experimentally.

1. Introduction

The history of the creation of modern PB as a gas-discharge light source has more than 200 years.
In 1802, a Russian professor, later an academician, VV Petrov was the first to discover the
phenomenon of arc discharge and showed the possibilities of using this type of discharge in industry,
as well as for lighting. He received Volta's arc when igniting a discharge between the carbon
electrodes. Electrical phenomena in the atmosphere were studied by the outstanding Russian scientist a
MV Lomonosov. He watched the glow of the discharged air in a glass bowl with two metal electrodes
soldered into it. In 1856 the German physicist and inventor G. Geisler invented the first gas-discharge
lamp. G. Heusler's glass tubes with two electrodes soldered into them proved to be convenient for
studying the spectrum of discharged gases filling these tubes. Finally, in 1894, the brilliant Serb
Nikola Tesla received a patent No. 514170 for the invention of "Incandescent Electric Light". Nikola
Tesla received a patent for a gas-discharge lamp, which consisted of a glass sphere with one electrode
inside it. The sphere was filled with argon, a high-frequency voltage was applied to the electrode and,
due to the gas breakdown, a discharge was ignited in it, causing a glow of argon. N. Tesla later called
his invention "gas-discharge tube with an inert gas" and used it only for scientific research. The
plasma ball that N. Tesla made was not as beautiful as modern plasma electric balls. It took time to
develop a technology to produce gases such as xenon, neon and krypton, and also learn how to mix
these gases. American scientist’s entrepreneurs Bill Parker and James Falk managed to combine the
unique invention of N. Tesla with art and to receive in the seventies of the twentieth century modern
plasma electric balls.

Content from this work may be used under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 licence. Any further distribution
of this work must maintain attribution to the author(s) and the title of the work, journal citation and DOI.
Published under licence by IOP Publishing Ltd 1
The Third Conference "Problems of Thermal Physics and Power Engineering" IOP Publishing
Journal of Physics: Conference Series 1683 (2020) 032006 doi:10.1088/1742-6596/1683/3/032006

2. Experiment

Plasma ball in working condition and its device are shown in Fig. 1. Structurally, the PB consists of
an outer closed glass container 2, inside which there is an inert gas under reduced pressure. In the
center of the glass container 2 is a hollow glass sphere 1, which has a conductive coating inside. To
this coating, wire 4 is fed from the power source, which is located inside the base of the plasma ball.
Voltage of 2 to 5 kilovolts with a frequency of 35 kHz is fed through the wire 4 to the glass sphere 1.
The diameter of the glass container 2 we used in the PB tests was 10 cm, the power consumption was
8 W. The device operates from a normal AC 220V. When switched on, the electronic circuit
transforms the input signal into a high-frequency voltage of large magnitude.

a b
Figure1.Plasma ball (a), appliance of the plasma ball (b)

Inside the glass container 2, an electrical breakdown of the inert gas region occurs. As a result, a
gas discharge is ignited, similar in appearance to a glow discharge [7-17]. Some modern experimental
studies of glow discharge were carried out in [18-22]. The glow of the plasma ball is not uniform and
consists of individual filaments. A lot of thin luminous filaments, begins with the glass sphere 1 and
ends at the walls of the glass container 2 (Fig. 1, left). The color of the filaments of a glowing cord
discharge varies: at the glass walls it is pinkish, and in the middle part of the container it is bluish. The
point from which the thread begins at the central electrode constantly wanders over the surface of the
glass sphere 1. The thread itself changes its shape and pops up. This is due to the fact that the gas
inside the filaments is heated, due to the current flow, and the buoyancy force of Archimedes acts on
them. The same effect can be observed if you flip the PB so that its pedestal is at the top, and the glass
container at the bottom. We also tried to apply a constant voltage of large magnitude to 30 KV to the
glass sphere 1. The gas discharge was not switched on at this connection. Thus, only an alternating
high-frequency electromagnetic field inside the PB creates conditions for the formation of non-
stationary plasma filaments. The stability of this discharge burning regime can be explained by
periodic recharging of the inner surface of the glass container 2 when the polarity of the central
electrode changes. The electric current in the plasma filaments periodically changes its direction, and
the lifetime of the filaments is t several microseconds.

3. Results

If you touch your finger to the PN, the picture of the glow will change. Instead of uniform glow in
all directions, we see that the main discharge channel is directed to the finger of the demonstrator. This
is due to the fact that, due to induction, a charge of the opposite sign is induced on the finger, and the

2
The Third Conference "Problems of Thermal Physics and Power Engineering" IOP Publishing
Journal of Physics: Conference Series 1683 (2020) 032006 doi:10.1088/1742-6596/1683/3/032006

lines of force of the electric field thicken in the direction of the finger (Fig. 2). The cord itself becomes
thicker than others, its color becomes brighter and lighter, indicating a higher temperature that is felt
by a person.

Figure2. The scheme of the lines of force and the type of glow when the conductor contacts the PB

In another experiment, a fluorescent and neon lamp was applied to the PB (Fig. 3). The lamps were lit
at a distance from the PB. In our experiments we used an 11 W fluorescent lamp, as well as a TN-0.2
neon light bulb (Fig. 4) with an ignition voltage of not more than 85 V and an operating current of not
more than 0.25 mA. Since the neon bulb has small dimensions, with its help it is possible to determine
the distance from the plasma ball at which the light is ignited sufficiently accurately. This distance was
found to be 10 cm. The distance between the cathode and the anode of the TH-0.2 lamp is 3 mm.
Therefore, the magnitude of the electric field intensity of the plasma ball at the indicated distance is of
the order of 30 V / mm.

a b
Figure 3. Gas discharge lamps start to glow near the plasma ball: a) fluorescent lamp; b) neon light
bulb.

If we further bring the neon bulb closer to the PB, then its glow and, consequently, the current through
it increase. Using the known volt-ampere characteristic of this bulb, it is possible to calculate the
electric field strength of the PB at various distances from its external surface. The relative radius R = 1

3
The Third Conference "Problems of Thermal Physics and Power Engineering" IOP Publishing
Journal of Physics: Conference Series 1683 (2020) 032006 doi:10.1088/1742-6596/1683/3/032006

corresponds to a distance of 10 cm from the outer surface of the PB. It was at this distance that the
neon light was ignited. Then, with a step of 1 cm, this distance decreased, while the current through
the lamp and the burning voltage of the discharge were measured. Knowing the power released on the
neon lamp, it is not difficult to calculate the electric field strength of the PB. The results of the
experiment are shown in Fig.4.

Figure 4. The electric field strength around the PВ

As expected, the strength electric field of the plasma ball increases with decreasing distance to its
outer surface. The similar result was obtained using a conventional wire probe connected to an
oscilloscope. On the oscilloscope screen, an alternating voltage was observed, the magnitude of which
increased as the probe approached the PB.

4. Conclusions

The main condition for stable operation of the PB is the matching of the power supply parameters, the
dimensions of the PB, and the composition of the gas mixture. In this paper it is shown that the glow
of a plasma ball occurs only in the case of a high-frequency voltage applied to a central electrode. In
this case, plasma filaments propagate along the radius from the central electrode. For a wider use and
understanding of the mechanism of the PB operation, it is necessary to investigate the electric field
created around it. In this paper, an experimental study of the electric field around the PB is given and
its distribution is obtained as a function of distance.
The work was carried out as part of project No. 18-42-161002 with the support of the Russian
Federal Property Fund.

References

[1] Raizer Y P 1992 Gas Discharge Physics (Moscow: “Science”) p 536

[2] Yunusov R F 1982 Journal of Engineering Physics and Thermophysics 43 1100-03
[3] Yunusov R F and Mukhametzyanov R B 1982 Izvestiya Vysshikh Uchebnykh Zavedenii
Aviatsionaya Tekhnika 2 40-44
[4] Yunusov R F 1983 Inzhenerno-Fizicheskii Zhurnal 43 1100-03
[5] Yunusov R F 1985 Izvestiya Vysshikh Uchebnykh Zavedenii Aviatsionaya Tekhnika 1 68-72
[6] Yunusov R F 1985 Journal of Engineering Physics and Thermophysics 48 591-592
[7] Yunusov R F 1985 Journal of Engineering Physics and Thermophysics 48 214-219
[8] Yunusov R F 1985 Soviet Aeronautics 28 78-82
[9] Yunusov R F 1988 Journal of Engineering Physics and Thermophysics 54 76 – 80
[10] Dautov G Y and Yunusov R F 1988 Izvestiya Vysshikh Uchebnykh Zavedenii Aviatsionaya
Tekhnika 2 21-25
[11] Yunusov R F 1990 Journal of Engineering Physics and Thermophysics 59 990-994
[12] Yunusov R F 1991 Inzhenerno-Fizicheskii Zhurnal 59 990-994

4
The Third Conference "Problems of Thermal Physics and Power Engineering" IOP Publishing
Journal of Physics: Conference Series 1683 (2020) 032006 doi:10.1088/1742-6596/1683/3/032006

[13] Yunusov F S, Khisamutdinov R M and Yunusov R F 2008 Russian Engineering Research 28

965-973
[14] Yunusov F S and Yunusov R F 2011 Russian Engineering Research 31 15-21
[15] Yunusov F S and Yunusov R F 2011 Russian Engineering Research 31 660-665
[16] Yunusov F S and Yunusov R F 2011 Russian Engineering Research 31 951-959
[17] Yunusov R F 2017 Journal of Physics: Conference Series 789 012069
[18] Yunusov R F and Garipov M M 2017 Journal of Physics: Conference Series 927 012076
[19] Yunusov R F and Garipov M M 2017 Journal of Physics: Conference Series 927 012077
[20] Kiselev A S and al 2017 Journal of Physics: Conference Series 789 012027
[21] Yunusov R F and al 2018 Journal of Physics: Conference Series 1058 012050
[22] Yunusov R F and al 2018 Journal of Physics: Conference Series 1058 012051