Any circuit breaker may have inductive loads on it which tend to draw an arc when opened. Sustained arcs cause vaporization of contact metal, so it's very desirable to extinguish the arc as quickly as possible. The distance the contacts must open increases with voltage. At 400 Volts, it's not much, but nonetheless not necessarily easy to extinguish.
Electric arcs are more or less a conductive gaseous plasma and can be 'blown out' like a match with high pressure air.
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