tank or in the case of a polymer melt from an extruder 100 to a spinning nozzle 104 also referred to as a u201c die u201d located in a spinneret 102 through which the polymer stream is discharged compressed gas which may optionally be heated or cooled in a gas temperature controller 108 is issued from gas nozzles 106 disposed adjacent to or peripherally to the spinning nozzle 104 the gas is directed generally downward in a forwarding gas stream which forwards the newly issued polymer stream and aids in the formation of the fibrous web while not wishing to be bound by theory it is believed that the forwarding gas stream provides the majority of the forwarding forces in the initial stages of drawing of the fibers from the issued polymer stream and in the case of polymer solution simultaneously strips away the mass boundary layer along the individual fiber surface thereby greatly increasing the diffusion rate of solvent from the polymeric solution in the form of gas during the formation of the fibrous web at some point the local electric field around individual fibers is of sufficient strength that the electrical force becomes the dominant drawing force which ultimately draws the individual fibers to diameters measured in the hundreds of nanometers or less it is believed that the geometry of the tip of the spinning nozzle also referred to as the u201c die tip u201d creates an intense electric field in the three dimensional space surrounding.