The bursting of a charged cylindrical film

Abstract
This paper is a sequel to Sir Geoffrey Taylor’s study of the bursting of an electrified cylindrical conducting film. Taylor described experiments in which the voltages, at which the film becomes statically unstable, were observed for various lengths of film. These results were compared with the theoretical predictions for disturbances on an infinitely long cylinder having a wavelength equal to the length of film used. It is shown here that a transition in the mode of bursting from an axisymmetric whole wavelength mode to a lateral half wavelength mode is to be expected and that the experimental data conform with this transition. An exact calculation of the modes for a film of finite length is also given here and the resulting theoretical predictions of instability and bursting voltages are in very good agreement with the experimental results.

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