Cecil Moore wrote:

Then the argument boils down to whether the noise level threshold
is *exactly* equal to the corona threshold. That means there is zero
noise until 100 uA/cm^2 starts to flow through the air accompaning
the corona. Can you appreciate how ridiculous such an argument
really is?


Well, suppose you have a #18 ga stranded wire composed of 7 strands of #26.
One strand is sticking up all by itself. The end of the strand (if cut off
squarely) is about 0.0013 cm^2. So a current flow of 0.13 uA from the end of
this strand is 100 uA/cm^2.

And, the situation is exacerbated by wire with smaller strands and with
strands more pointed than by being squarely cut off.

John