Prebreakdown Cathode Processes in Liquid Hydrocarbons

Measurements are presented of the initiation of prebreakdown streamers at a point cathode in liquid hydrocarbons. Using a computer implementation of the method of images, the electric field is computed for selected geometries to confirm that the field strengths in the vicinity of these streamers are probably high enough so that electron multiplication processes can occur. High magnification photographs of streamer initiation show that the initial streamer velocity is (2.8±0.4) x 104 cm/s in toluene.