Motion of Striae in Discharge Tubes

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Abstract
Curves of the variation with pressure of the position of the striae of the positive column of a discharge tube have been obtained for tubes of 16, 34, and 80 mm diameter with hydrogen, helium, nitrogen, air, carbon monoxide, carbon dioxide and oxygen for pressures from 0.8 to 0.05 mm of mercury. As the pressure is reduced the striae move away from the cathode. The magnitude of the shift for a given pressure change increases rapidly with diameter of the tube. For the 80 mm tube it is about 10 cm for a pressure change of 0.1 mm. Such a discharge tube may be used as a sensitive and quickly responding pressure gauge. The shift of the striae is unaffected by variation of the distance between electrodes, or by variation in the current up to 10 m.a. On the other hand increasing the current from 10 to 30 m.a. shifts the striae about 1 cm toward the anode.

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