On the mechanism of emission of ions from charged droplets

The condition of instability of a charged liquid droplet, Q(2) > 16 pi a(3)T, is frequently used for development of mechanism of emission of ions from liquids (a and Q are the radius and the charge of the droplet, and T is the coefficient of surface tension of the liquid). This condition arises when determining solution of the problem about vibrations of a spherical charged droplet of an ideal and incompressible liquid. It is shown that the constancy with time of the volume of the vibrating droplet following from incompressibility of the droplet was not taken into account. This suggests the incorrectness of the conventional solution and the condition of the instability. (C) 2000 Published by Elsevier Science B.V.