Research into high-voltage discharge above the water surface

A gas discharge induced in the air-vapor medium and made it possible to obtain plasma objects with a lifetime of 1/30 to 1/5 s is investigated. Initiation, formation, and decay of the spherical plasmoid with a diameter of about 10–12 cm are investigated in detail with a digital photographic system. It was fixed that the increasing of humidity leads to the increasing of the plasmoid lifetime. The current-voltage characteristic of the process was measured, as well as the dependences of the current and voltage on the time. The analysis of the experimental data was carried out and, based on it, a thermodynamical hypothesis of the plasmoid explaining its spherical shape was created. © 2011, Pleiades Publishing, Ltd.