. High Frequency Corona Discharge 165 
It has been thought” that one of the benefits of a high-frequency 
discharge might be in setting up so great a vibration with the mole- 
cules as to loosen the bonds so that new combinations might take place. 
A simple calculation would show that the intensity factor of this form 
of energy is much too small to have appreciable effect in any way ex- 
cept, possibly, upon the loosest of secondary valence combinations. This 
resonance result must not be confused with the results produced by 
ionic bombardment of molecules in the large voltage gradients of the 
corona discharge; nor should it be confused with the very real chemical 
action of the ultra-violet radiation accompanying any corona discharge. 
SUMMARY. 
1. This study of the production of ozone in a high-frequency 
corona discharge indicates that it is governed by the same laws that 
control its production in either low-frequency or direct-current corona 
discharges. 
2. With the use of high frequency, the discharge apparatus itself 
is simplified through elimination of any dielectric. This point is of 
especial value for high temperature work. 
3. On the other hand, the apparatus for supplying the electrical 
energy is much more complicated than for low frequency. This results 
in greater first cost and in increased energy losses, with consequent 
decreased efficiency. 
4. The conditions which give the most intense discharge with 
greatest ozone production narrow the resonance range so that small 
surges of power tend to shift the discharge from corona to spark. 
5. The high-frequency discharge is unsuitable for the oxidation 
of nitrogen. Where ozone is desired, the rather low concentration of 
oxides of nitrogen is an advantage, but even in the spark discharge the 
amount of nitrogen oxidized indicates a very low efficiency. 
6. In order to use additional discharge units, it would be neces- 
sary to “retune” the high-frequency circuits. 
7. Even a frequency of a million and a half cycles per second 
would have little, if any, effect in loosening the chemical bonds. 
8. Some evidence is given of a “lag effect’? when platinum wires 
are used. 
9. The existence of an “ionization pressure” is indicated in a high- 
frequency corona discharge. 
2. B. Cherry, loc. cit., offers this explanation. But consideration of the energy 
of the radiation needed to activate carbon compounds indicates that it requires a fre- 
quency of 10'-10%, an order of magnitude quite different from the value of 10°-10° 
eycles per second of the wireless waves set up in his discharge apparatus. 
