jamesr wrote: I’m not sure why you think this is an issue, but the polarity or lack of in the fill gas is really completely irrelevant. At the voltages involved any atom/molecule coming close to the edge at the base of the cathode where the breakdown first occurs is basically ripped apart by the strength of the E field.
The point is not where it first occurs but that there is a slight bias in the orientation of the polar molecules that follows the potential lines of the field. This molecules will be like small wires that guide the plasma and diminishes the resistance. According to the Nov. 11th report, resistance was one of the causes for the slower formation of the pinch.
