1. A discharge of electricity through a gas, normally characterized by a voltage drop approximately equal to the ionization potential of the gas.
2. A luminous discharge of current that is formed when a strong current jumps a gap in a circuit or between two electrodes.

Electric arcs across specially designed electrodes can produce very high heat and bright light, and are used for such purposes as welding and illumination in spotlights.

Unwanted arcs in electrical circuits can cause fires and lightning is an example of an electric arc between one cloud and the earth or another cloud, as are sparks caused by discharges of static electricity.

1. A type of electric furnace in which heat is generated by an arc between carbon electrodes above the surface of the material, commonly a metal, which is being heated.
2. A furnace used to heat materials with the energy from an electric arc.
3. An electric furnace in which an electric arc provides the source of heat for making steel.
4. A steel-making apparatus which uses high-quality scrap or ore with the polluting elements eliminated.

1. The heating of a material by the heat energy from an electric arc, which has a very high temperature and very high concentration of heat energy.
2. The heating of matter by an electric arc.

The material may be solid, liquid, or gaseous and when the heating is direct, the material to be heated is one electrode; but for indirect heating, the heat is transferred from the arc by conduction, convection, or radiation.

1. An electric lamp in which the light is produced by an arc made when current flows through ionized gas between two electrodes.
2. A general term for a class of lamps which produce light by an electric arc or a voltaic arc.

The lamp consists of two electrodes, typically made of tungsten, that are separated by a gas.

A thermal spraying process with an electric arc as a heat source and with compressed gas to propel the material.

1. A welding process which uses an electric arc as the source of heat.
2. Welding in which the joint is heated to fusion by an electric arc or by a large electric current.
3. The joining of metal components by fusing them with heat from an electrical arc struck between two electrodes.