Preferred Label : Penning gas mixture; 
IUPAC definition : A Penning gas mixture consists of a rare gas containing impurity atoms possibly at
               very low concentrations. The impurity atoms have an ionization potential V ion which
               is lower than or equal to the metastable potential (V meta) of the parent noble gas.
               The Penning effect in a Penning gas mixture is the ionization by charge transfer (charge
               exchange) during collision between a metastable atom and a neutral atom which decreases
               the average energy to form an ion pair, e.g.  In a glow discharge, this results in
               an increase of the the ionization coefficient (Townsend first coefficient), a decrease
               in breakdown potential and a lowering of the cathode fall potential. The magnetic
               Penning effect describes the increase of the ionization probability of gas in a low
               pressure electrical discharge resulting from the helical (spiral) movement of electrons
               in a magnetic field placed normal to the anode-cathode electrical field.; 
         
         
            Origin ID : P04476; 
See also
                  
                  
                  
                  
                  
                  
                  
                  
                
            
          
         
         
         A Penning gas mixture consists of a rare gas containing impurity atoms possibly at
            very low concentrations. The impurity atoms have an ionization potential V ion which
            is lower than or equal to the metastable potential (V meta) of the parent noble gas.
            The Penning effect in a Penning gas mixture is the ionization by charge transfer (charge
            exchange) during collision between a metastable atom and a neutral atom which decreases
            the average energy to form an ion pair, e.g.  In a glow discharge, this results in
            an increase of the the ionization coefficient (Townsend first coefficient), a decrease
            in breakdown potential and a lowering of the cathode fall potential. The magnetic
            Penning effect describes the increase of the ionization probability of gas in a low
            pressure electrical discharge resulting from the helical (spiral) movement of electrons
            in a magnetic field placed normal to the anode-cathode electrical field.