Can air conduct high voltage current?if so why?
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air can conduct high voltage current but only under high temperature and pressure
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Under certain conditions.
Have you seen lightening? That's your answer.
Normally, air doesn't conduct electricity, and acts as an insulator, but just like everything else in nature, it has it's limit(3333KV/cm to be precise).
As long as the potential difference between two points of conductor, separated by 1cm through air, is less than 3333kiloVolt, the air is an insulator. But if the voltage rises beyond that, the phenomena of 'insulator breakdown' occurs and air starts conducting. This is often accompanied with sparking.
In breakdown, the electrons of an insulator, start to move due to a very high electric field, and hence start conducting electricity.
While that is true, humidity also plays a big role in breakdown. The water vapour molecules along with air, act together as an insulating media and hence, the net breakdown strength of the insulator is reduced(as water is a conductor of electricity).
You must also have noticed, that when walking around transmission lines, you hear a hissing sound. That is due to the breakdown of O2O2 into single O molecules, which then combine with molecular oxygen to for ozone. This process is called Corona Discharge. What this means is that the air around the wire is breaking into simpler atoms, and with a considerable increase in voltage, the air might breakdown and start conducting.
Have you seen lightening? That's your answer.
Normally, air doesn't conduct electricity, and acts as an insulator, but just like everything else in nature, it has it's limit(3333KV/cm to be precise).
As long as the potential difference between two points of conductor, separated by 1cm through air, is less than 3333kiloVolt, the air is an insulator. But if the voltage rises beyond that, the phenomena of 'insulator breakdown' occurs and air starts conducting. This is often accompanied with sparking.
In breakdown, the electrons of an insulator, start to move due to a very high electric field, and hence start conducting electricity.
While that is true, humidity also plays a big role in breakdown. The water vapour molecules along with air, act together as an insulating media and hence, the net breakdown strength of the insulator is reduced(as water is a conductor of electricity).
You must also have noticed, that when walking around transmission lines, you hear a hissing sound. That is due to the breakdown of O2O2 into single O molecules, which then combine with molecular oxygen to for ozone. This process is called Corona Discharge. What this means is that the air around the wire is breaking into simpler atoms, and with a considerable increase in voltage, the air might breakdown and start conducting.
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