| 释义 |
Townsend Physics.|ˈtaʊnzɛnd|
The name of Sir John Townsend (1868–1957), Irish physicist, used attrib. with reference to certain phenomena and concepts related to his work on the conduction of electricity through gases, as Townsend discharge, a dark, low-current electric discharge in a gas that depends on an external source of ionization for its continuance.
1932K. K. Darrow Electr. Phenomena in Gases ix. 293 The relative importance of the various processes of ionization and electron-expulsion..which figure in the ‘Townsend discharge’. 1956Nature 25 Feb. 391/1 The possibility of using the Townsend electron avalanche process in a gas in a stage-by-stage system to give a highly stable electron-multiplication factor. 1968Romanowitz & Puckett Introd. Electronics xiv. 563 As the voltage is increased from zero, the dark current (called Townsend current..) increases slowly until the voltage approaches that at which the tube operates with a glow discharge. 1978J. H. Ingold in Hirsh & Oskam Gaseous Electronics I. ii. 23 At extremely low currents, on the order of micro⁓amperes and less, the discharge is a Townsend discharge, with little or no visible light emanating from the discharge tube. 1982Nature 28 Oct. 774/1 The main agents of discharges are electrons that participate in Townsend avalanches. |