The influences of rf driving power, neutral gas pressure, and nitrogen seeding on the electrostatic-to-electromagnetic (E-H) mode transition dynamics in radio-frequency argon inductively coupled plasmas (ICPs) in a pressure range of 50-100 kPa are investigated, both experimentally and theoretically. The E-H mode transition dynamics and its characteristic transition time scale are investigated by observing the high-speed imaging (13 500 fps) as well as the temporal change of plasma loading impedance. The experimental results reveal that the E-H mode transition time is not fixed at any operating conditions rather it depends on some important parameters such as the rf driving power, neutral gas pressure, gas type. It is found that the E-H mode transition time depends on the unique parameter E-theta/p; the so-called effective induced electric field, rather than the independent parameter: the rf power or neutral gas pressure. It is also found that longer E-H mode transition time is required to ignite the high-pressure Ar-N-2 plasmas with a 2.5%-10% N-2 seeding than that of pure Ar plasmas with the same operating conditions. The experimental results are compared with that of the recently developed theoretical models, and a good agreement is found between them. (C) 2004 American Institute of Physics.