On the stability of a nonaxisymmetric charged jet of a viscous conducting liquid

A dispersion equation is derived for axisymmetric and nonaxisymmetric capillary oscillations in a jet of viscous conducting liquid subjected to a constant potential. It is shown that conditions arising when the surface charge density in the jet is high cause the instability of nonaxisymmetric, rather than axisymmetric, modes with the resulting disintegration of the jet into drops of various sizes. This theoretical finding allows one to correctly interpret of experimental data for the spontaneous disintegration of charged jets.