considerably lower than the ionization energy of air at standard temperatures and pressures, making it a more liberal source of secondary electrons under these conditions. Again, the source of energy for the electron-liberation is a high-energy photon from an atom within the plasma body relaxing after excitation from an earlier collision. The use of ionized neutral gas as a source of ionization is further diminished in a negative corona by the high-concentration of positive ions clustering around the curved electrode. Under other conditions, the collision of the positive species with the curved electrode can also cause electron liberation. The difference, then, between positive and negative coronas, in the matter of the generation of secondary electron avalanches, is that in a positive corona they are generated by the gas surrounding the plasma region, the new secondary electrons travelling inward, whereas in a negative corona they are generated by the curved electrode itself, the new secondary electrons travelling outward. A further feature of the structure of negative coronas is that as the electrons drift outwards, they encounter neutral molecules and, with electronegative molecules (such as oxygen and water vapor), combine to produce negative ions. These negative ions are then attracted to the positive uncurved electrode, completing the 'circuit'. Electrical wind Ionized gases produced in a corona discharge are accelerated by the electric field, producing a movement of gas or electrical wind. The air movement associated with a discharge current of a few hundred microamperes can blow out a small candle flame within about 1 cm of a discharge point. A pinwheel, with radial metal spokes and pointed tips bent to point along the circumference of a circle, can be made to rotate if energized by a corona discharge; the rotation is due to the differential electric attraction between the metal spokes and the space charge shield region that surrounds the tips. See also Alternating current Atmospheric pressure chemical ionization Crookes tube Dielectric barrier discharge Kirlian photography List of plasma physics articles St. Elmo's fire References Further reading External links Additional information about corona, its effects, characteristics and preventative measures Electrical breakdown Plasma physics ja:放電#コロナ放電（局部破壊放電）