The role of the electrical conductivity and viscosity on the motions inside Taylor cones

The role of the electrical conductivity and viscosity on the liquid motions inside Taylor cones has been investigated. The electrical conductivity pla ys an essential role since it determines the electric tangential stresses a cting on the cone surface. Flow visualization shows that two different patt erns of the liquid motion can be distinguished. One, for liquids with suffi ciently high values of the electrical conductivity and viscosity which corr esponds to small values of the Reynolds number and the other for less visco us and less conducting liquids for which the characteristic Reynolds number of the flow is larger than unity. Some theoretical models of the liquid mo tions are given and compared to the flow patterns observed in the laborator y.