For cylindrical conductors made of thin copper and tungsten and heated by the electrical pulse from a high‐voltage condenser bank which had inductance and resistance much lower than those of the conductors, the following items were studied as functions of the diameter and the applied voltage: (i) the variations in time of the temperature and resistance of the conductors up to the time they reach their melting points; (ii) the dips on the recordings of the current derivative and the voltage across the conductors which appear near their melting points; (iii) the first current‐pulse crest and the time to the current‐pulse crest, as well as the influence of the ambient pressure on the current crest and on the time to the current crest; and (iv) the events occurring at the tail of the first current pulse and the beginning of the dwell time, which may have a decisive effect on the type of restrike mechanism which will follow the conductor explosion.