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RE: Metal Selection for gap.



Original poster: "Steve Conner" <steve.conner-at-optosci-dot-com> 

 >So would a lower specific heat be able to move the heat into the air
 >more rapidly?

No :) What you are describing is thermal conductivity. Specific heat and
thermal conductivity are two different things. Specific heat is like the
"inertia" that resists changes in temperature, conductivity is the
"resistance" that causes temperature differences in the equilibrium
condition.

Electrical circuits are often used to model thermal networks, and in these
models temperature=voltage, heat flow=current, specific heat=capacitance,
thermal conductivity=resistance. Using these substitutions you can model
thermal stuff in PSpice :) Maybe thinking about it that way will help.

Copper is a good choice for spark gaps, heatsinks, etc, because it has one
of the highest thermal conductivities of all metals. IIRC, only silver is
better. Brass is almost as good as copper and steel is very poor. Tungsten I
don't know. But I suspect in most gap designs the "bottleneck" for heat
transfer is between the electrodes and the air.

Steve C.