1.a) What is Paschens Law?

Sketch Paschens curve and explain the existence of a minimum

sparking potential in Paschens curve.( i.e. explain the phenomena left and right of
the minimum point.)

b) In an experiment in a certain gas it was found that the steady-state current is (5.5 x
10
-8
) A at 8 kV at a distance of 0.4 cm between the plane electrodes. Keeping the
field constant and reducing the distance of the gap to 0.1 cm, results in a current of
(5.5 x 10
-9
) A. Calculate Townsends primary ionization coefficient (in value
/cm).


2. a) Define the components of time lags associated with the breakdown of gaseous
insulators. Upon what factors do the time lags depend?