capacitors

The further discussions of Science and Technology from T. T. Brown's work through today's breakthroughs and continuing research.

Re: capacitors

Postby Mikado14 » Sat Nov 12, 2011 6:21 pm

catspaw1950 wrote:Moving right along to another question. How do transformers differ from capacitors? Other than the obvious, that the ones on power poles don't turn into talking vehicles.

Cat


How do transformers differ from capacitors? Well, transformers turn from a robot into a vehicle....<g> ..... guess you are not talking about that type either.

Okay, the easiest way to say it is to first mention that both devices are considered "passive components". Let's go back to the description of the capacitor. If a wire were attached to the bottom plate and another wire were attached to the top plate then that would be more akin to a capacitor in that you now know where the wires are attached. However, the cake was indicative of the dielectric and the easiest explanation of that is that a dielectric is essentially an insulator. As I would or will assume is that you know that an insulator does not allow electricity to flow. When you grab ahold of an extension cord that is plugged in you don't get zapped. So, with this in mind in that the dielectric is an insulator then you should be able to see that if I put a battery to the two wires ( positive to one and negative to the other, which one doesn't matter) that no current will flow for there is no conductor between the two wires for there is an insulator between them. We can say that a capacitor is a "Voltage component".

Now an inductor(coil) (a transformer is two inductors(coils) that are in close proximity to each other that uses the characteristic of "mutual coupling" to function so we will only talk about one half of a transformer which is a single inductor (coil)) is nothing more than a piece of wire that is wrapped in a coil. If you were to take a piece of wire and wrap it around a pencil than you would have an inductor(coil). An inductor(coil) does nothing unless there are electrons flowing through it which means that if you were to hook up the very same battery in the paragraph above then a current (electricity) would flow through the wire. An inductor(coil) can become a complicated component to describe (easier if you can play with a piece of wire and a 6 volt Eveready lantern battery) but if you had General Science in school than I will presume that you did the above and made an Electromagnet. So, when the battery was hooked up to the coil that was made around the pencil then electricity would flow through the wire and a magnetic field was created around the wire. (you may have done this in science class but an iron rod was used instead of a pencil and they may have had you pick up nails, staples etc and when the battery was disconnected, the pieces fell). Therefore, if electricity has to flow in order for an inductor(coil) to do it's thing then that flow is called current. We can now say that an inductor(coil) is a "Current component".

Voltage and Current are two distinct characteristics of electricity. Pressure is what pushes water through pipes and would be analogous to Voltage. How much water comes through the pipes would be the flow and is analogous to Current. So, if the well pump quits working you know that there is no pressure to push the water through the pipes but just undo a pipe in the house and water comes out but there is no pressure to push it out of your faucet. Well, there are electrons in a wire and without Voltage then there is no Electrical Pressure to push them (might be a poor example but it does apply)

Hope this helped.

Mikado
The thing about Inner Circles is that they are like Boxes - difficult to think outside of them.

"When the Debate is Lost, Slander is the Tool of the Loser" SOCRATES

“There are two ways to be fooled. One is to believe what isn't true; the other is to refuse to believe what is true.”
― Søren Kierkegaard
User avatar
Mikado14
Commander
 
Posts: 2054
Joined: Sat Jul 09, 2011 10:38 am
Location: Located where I want to be...or not...depends on the day.

Re: capacitors

Postby catspaw1950 » Sat Nov 12, 2011 7:41 pm

Obviously I wasn't clear enough that I wasn't referring to robot/vehicles. Then again, I do need to remember the male fascination with taking things apart, and putting them back together creatively. I do actually look these things up before I ask questions, but the information online can be murky.

I understand insulation. I actually took chemistry in high school and basic physics in college. But that was a while back, and my memory is sporadic at times. I think we did electrical experiments in seventh grade science. That would have been about 1968 or 1969. Again with the bad memory. Anyway I appreciate the answers. A lot of this is helping me remember things that I learned, but buried.

Cat
A time just for plantin', a time just for ploughin'.
A time just for livin'. A place for to die.
'Twas so good to be young then, to be close to the earth.
Now the green leaves of summer are callin' me home.
User avatar
catspaw1950
Commander
 
Posts: 2025
Joined: Sat Jun 05, 2010 6:27 pm
Location: out of the broom closet

Re: capacitors

Postby catspaw1950 » Sun Nov 13, 2011 9:54 am

All of this has me remembering Christmas time with my dad. We had one string of lights that was in series, rather than parallel. Every year, out came the volt meter, and my dad started handing me ulbs to check. Every year. Couldn't just replace that light string. But if it had been replaced, I wouldn't have the memories.

Cat
A time just for plantin', a time just for ploughin'.
A time just for livin'. A place for to die.
'Twas so good to be young then, to be close to the earth.
Now the green leaves of summer are callin' me home.
User avatar
catspaw1950
Commander
 
Posts: 2025
Joined: Sat Jun 05, 2010 6:27 pm
Location: out of the broom closet

Previous

Return to Conversations in the Hut



Who is online

Users browsing this forum: No registered users and 12 guests

cron