Can Electricity travel through a vacuum?

[NathanS]

Can Electricity travel through a vacuum? How close does matter have to be before electrons can make the jump?

 

[casio3476]

the tube in a CRT monitor is a vacuum, an electron beam is used, so id say yes electricity can flow through a vacuum

 

[AEB]

i actually did a really cool expiriment with this in physics, if i remember corectly it can flow through a vaccum and you can distort it using magnetic fields we bent an election beam it was cool

 

[Fencer128]

Electricity is a flow of electrons. Electrons can flow across a vacuum. The problem with doing this over a long range is that you need a force to get the electrons to travel across the vacuum.

In a CRT the cathode is heated, which gives the electrons the energy they need to escape the cathode. A large electric field then accelerates the free electrons across the vacuum and onto a target (screen). In this case, other fields are also used to steer the beam to get an optimal picture.

If you have a different system - imagine an anode and a cathode in a vacuum seperated by a small distance - with no deliberate heating taking place - then the potential difference (ie potential energy or voltage) between the two electrodes must be large eneough that the electrons can "leap" between them. They need to leap because the vacuum is a perfect insulator and so there is no medium in which they can flow (like through a metal conductor) so they must aquire all of the energy necessary to cover the distance before they can escape the cathode. Larger gap to be traversed implies larger potential difference required to get the electrons to make the leap.

Hope that helps.

Andy

 

[Rainsford]

Originally posted by: AEB
i actually did a really cool expiriment with this in physics, if i remember corectly it can flow through a vaccum and you can distort it using magnetic fields we bent an election beam it was cool

Unless I'm mistaken, that is exactly how a CRT works.

 

[imgod2u]

It would actually be easier to have electrons travel through a vacuum than say, air. If you had a vacuum and an electron gun at one end, it would propel the electric beam to the other end. However, through air, the electron beam may not make it to the other end (unless you had an attractive force at the other end). Air distorts the electron's path. If you could find a way to circumvent this, you could have one hell of a weapon on your hands (an electron gun).

 

[Cashmoney995]

Space is a vacuum, I believe the sun emits electrical impulses to us that we can detect. Yes Electricity can travel through vacuum.

 

[Fencer128]

Originally posted by: Cashmoney995
Space is a vacuum, I believe the sun emits electrical impulses to us that we can detect. Yes Electricity can travel through vacuum.

The sun emits electromagnetic raditation that we can detect (thank God!). This is different to the case for electricity. Please read my other posts for a little more insight.

Thanks,

Andy