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Electrical breakdown in an electric discharge showing the ribbon-like plasma filaments from a Tesla coil.. In electronics, electrical breakdown or dielectric breakdown is a process that occurs when an electrically insulating material (a dielectric), subjected to a high enough voltage, suddenly becomes a conductor and current flows through it.
However, when a large enough electric field is applied to any insulating substance, at a certain field strength the concentration of charge carriers in the material suddenly increases by many orders of magnitude, so its resistance drops and it becomes a conductor. This is called electrical breakdown. The physical mechanism causing breakdown ...
The breakdown voltage of an insulator is the minimum voltage that causes a portion of an insulator to experience electrical breakdown and become electrically conductive. For diodes, the breakdown voltage is the minimum reverse voltage that makes the diode conduct appreciably in reverse. Some devices (such as TRIACs) also have a forward ...
The electrical breakdown of an insulator due to excessive voltage can occur in one of two ways: A puncture arc is a breakdown and conduction of the material of the insulator, causing an electric arc through the interior of the insulator. The heat resulting from the arc usually damages the insulator irreparably.
In electromagnetism, a dielectric (or dielectric medium) is an electrical insulator that can be polarised by an applied electric field.When a dielectric material is placed in an electric field, electric charges do not flow through the material as they do in an electrical conductor, because they have no loosely bound, or free, electrons that may drift through the material, but instead they ...
Tracking is an electrical breakdown on the surface of an insulating material wherein an initial exposure to electrical arcing heat carbonizes the material. The carbonized areas are more conductive than the pristine insulator, increasing current flow, resulting in increased heat generation, and eventually the insulation becomes completely ...
A dielectric gas, or insulating gas, is a dielectric material in gaseous state. Its main purpose is to prevent or rapidly quench electric discharges . Dielectric gases are used as electrical insulators in high voltage applications, e.g. transformers , circuit breakers (namely sulfur hexafluoride circuit breakers ), switchgear (namely high ...
Liquid dielectrics are self-healing; when an electric breakdown occurs, the discharge channel does not leave a permanent conductive trace in the fluid. The electrical properties tend to be strongly influenced by dissolved gases (e.g. oxygen or carbon dioxide), dust, fibers, and especially ionic impurities and moisture. Electrical discharge may ...