Electrical breakdown of liquid hydrocarbons in a test cell with one rotating electrode

The electrical breakdown of liquid n-pentane, n-hexane, cyclo-hexane, and n-decane was investigated in a test cell with one electrode rotating. Two different electrode geometries were used: sphere-rotating sphere and sphere-rotating plane. The applied voltage was increased slowly at a constant rate until breakdown occurred. The breakdown voltage was found to decrease with increasing rotary velocity except at very low values, where a slight increase of the breakdown voltage was observed. A simple method is presented that qualitatively explains the observed effects