From: info.ronse@skynet.be   
      
   Kerry Soileau wrote:   
   > If the negative charge on a sphere in a vacuum is increased   
   > sufficiently, do electrons begin to escape from the sphere into   
   > vacuum? If so, is the physics similar to that of the photoelectric   
   > effect work function concept?   
   >   
   > Thanks for any references/insight on this question.   
   >   
   > [[Mod. note -- I think the answers to your questions are "yes" and   
   > "yes".  More detailed discussions from the newsgroup would be welcome.   
   > -- jt]]   
   >   
      
   Question : would this problem not be rather similar to a glass filled with   
   water, inverted, and under gravity? The water falls out, unless its surface   
   is stabilized by for example a sheet of paper.   
      
   Quantum tunneling of electrons leeds to a formula (Fowler Nordheim), but in   
   experiment its results only agree for sharp points. For flat surfaces there   
   is a disagreement by some factor (at least 10-20) which is attributed to   
   surface irregularities. But maybe stability issues play a major role?   
      
   charles   
      
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