Measurements of the radial distribution of temperature in low-current nitrogen arcs

Spectroscopic techniques have been used to measure the radial temperature distribution in freely burning arcs in nitrogen at a pressure of 720 torr. The current ranged from 3 to 8 A. The measured radial temperature distribution is compared with the static arc theories proposed by Goldenberg and Halder and Whittaker. It is shown that whilst the Goldenberg theory gives the best explanation of the observed temperature distributions, the simple nomogram technique of Halder and Whittaker gives a description of arc properties which is sufficiently accurate for most practical purposes.