2. Conduction in gases

The behavior of gases used as insulators is described in detail in the article Insulating gases . We give only a brief overview here, pointing out that their behavior is quite different from that of dielectric liquids and solids, due to the low density of matter and the much greater mean free paths of the species involved.

• The behavior of a gas under an electric field is generally represented by the voltage-current characteristic. In a homogeneous field, it has the appearance shown in figure 5 .

  • From the origin of this curve...