| Abstract: | In inhomogeneous electric fields, at sufficiently high field strengths, a weakly conducting liquid becomes unstable and is set in motion 1–4]. The cause of the loss of stability and the motion is the Coulomb force acting on the space charge formed by virtue of the inhomogeneity of the electrical conductivity of the liquid 4–13]. This inhomogeneity may be due to external heating 4–6], a local raising of the temperature by Joule heating 2, 7, 8], and nonlinearity of Ohm's law 9–13]. In the present paper, in the absence of a temperature gradient produced by an external source, a condition is found whose fulfillment ensures that the influence of Joule heating on the stability can be ignored. Under the assumption that this condition is satisfied, a criterion for stability of a weakly conducting liquid between spherical electrodes is obtained.Translated from Izvestiya Akademii Nauk SSSR, Mekhanika Zhidkosti i Gaza, No. 4, pp. 137–142, July–August, 1979. |
