Current emitted by highly conducting Taylor cones

When a liquid meniscus held at the exit of a metallic capillary tube is charged to a high voltage V, the free surface often takes the form of a cone whose apex emits a steady microjet, and thus injects a certain charge I and liquid volume Q per unit time into the surrounding gas. This work deals with liquids with relatively large conductivities K, for which the jet diameter d(j) is much smaller than the diameter d(n) of the capillary tube. In the limit d(j)/d(n) to O, the structure of the jet (d(j) and I, in particular) becomes independent of electrostatic parameters such as V or the electrode configuration, being governed mostly by the liquid properties and flow rate Q. Furthermore, the measured current is given approximately by I = f(epsilon)(gamma QK/epsilon)(exp 1/2) for a wide variety of liquids and conditions (epsilon, and gamma are, respectively, the dielectric constant of the liquid and the coefficient of interfacial tension, f(epsilon) is shown). A proposed explanation for this behavior is presented.