Paschen's law

Paschen's Law, named after Friedrich Paschen, was first stated in 1889.^[1] It states that the breakdown voltage of a gap is a non-linear function of the product of the gas pressure and the gap distance:

V = f(pd)

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where p is the pressure and d is the distance.

The theoretical relationship for the direct current breakdown voltage of two parallel-plane electrodes immersed in a gas, as a function of the gas pressure and electrode separation, is the Paschen curve.

This relationship predicts the occurrence of a minimum breakdown voltage for a certain product of the pressure times the separation. The phenomenon is well verified experimentally and is referred to as the Paschen minimum.

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