Thermal bubble behaviour in liquid nitrogen between inclined plane electrodes

This paper describes an experimental study of the behaviour of thermally nucleated bubbles in liquid nitrogen between inclined plane-plane electrodes with an angle of 21deg. Observation of the bubble motion captured using a camera at 1000 fps shows that bubble's rising motion due to buoyancy is impeded by the application of dc electric field and gradient force. Bubbles are observed to collect at the top of the inclined plane electrodes, the closest point. The gas vapour of successive bubbles coalesces forming a large volume bubble which partially bridges the electrode gap. To better understand the forces experienced by the bubbles the competing gradient and buoyancy forces are analysed and presented.