Talk:Breakdown voltage

Minimum or maximum
Jhakalpit (talk) 06:02, 9 February 2009 (UTC)Here is the old content

(preview) The voltage minimum that makes a insulator react as a conductor

(defn.) Is a parameter of a insulator that defines the Minimum voltage difference that can be applied across the material before the insulator collapses and conducts.

I changed minimum to maximum

(preview) The voltage minimum that makes a insulator react as a conductor

(defn.) Is a parameter of a insulator that defines the maximum voltage difference that can be applied across the material before the insulator collapses and conducts

you can see minimum and maximum can both be used to correctly describe breakdown voltage in different ways, but they were mixed up in one spot. Pogostix July 31, 2005

"In vacuum, this breakdown potential may decrease to an extent that two uninsulated surfaces with different potentials might induce the electrical breakdown of the surrounding gas." Clarification as to what gas there is in or near a "vacuum" would be nice. --Fyedernoggersnodden (talk) 13:32, 23 January 2008 (UTC)


 * Sure would. Maybe if you have enough volts you can ionize the quantum flux, or maybe the collective solar winds provide enough atoms to consider outer space a disperse gas rather than a vacuum, but without some generalized idea as to what rough values these constants might take, having a precise formula for calculating such voltages is just useless.  --Polymath69 (talk) 12:14, 17 March 2008 (UTC)

it would be really nice if some one puts mechanisms of breakdown for solid, liquid and gaseous dielectrics

dojaeger: I think there is a contradiction in this article. On one side it says: A: The breakdown voltage of an insulator is the minimum voltage that causes a portion of an insulator to become electrically conductive.

and on the other hand it states:

B: Breakdown voltage is a characteristic of an insulator that defines the maximum voltage difference that can be applied across the material before the insulator collapses and conducts.

In the case A it means that if you apply that Voltage then it is already conductive, in case B it is the maximum Voltage, where it is not yet conductive. I have the feeling this is a general problem in literature. — Preceding unsigned comment added by Dojaeger (talk • contribs) 09:06, 11 June 2013 (UTC)


 * No conflict or contradiction. Is this not just 2 ways of saying the same thing ? - Rod57 (talk) 10:16, 26 March 2018 (UTC)

Examples? what exact vacuum ?
It would be nice if someone gave some examples of some breakdown voltages of various materials. As far as vacuum goes, man-made vacuums have gas present at concentrations orders of magnitude higher than that of deep space, so the term "vacuum" is relative to 1 atmosphere. I assume ASTM has specs for vacuum pressure, but am not familiar with the specs - call it speculation71.31.148.44 (talk) 17:44, 6 July 2012 (UTC)
 * Examples would be great. Then we could compare them with the table in dielectric strength. - Rod57 (talk) 10:18, 26 March 2018 (UTC)

How does it relate to dielectric strength
Can BV be calculated or estimated from the dielectric strength of a material or is this just an upper bound or what other factors are relevant ? - Rod57 (talk) 10:11, 26 March 2018 (UTC)