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Agnostic
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Does quickly shorting out an inductor in series with a capacitor create a small emp?
What are you shorting out? What are the initial conditions of the inductor and capacitor?Agnostic said:Does quickly shorting out an inductor in series with a capacitor create a small emp?
berkeman said:What are you shorting out? What are the initial conditions of the inductor and capacitor?
You still haven't specified the initial conditions. Do you mean that you have an inductor connected in series with a capacitor, and the capacitor has an initial voltage Vo on it, and the initial inductor current Io is zero? And then you complete the circuit with a switch to "short them out"?Agnostic said:Sorry for the lack of clarity.
A highly charged ideal physics capacitor and inductor in series by means of an ideal physics wire.
berkeman said:You still haven't specified the initial conditions. Do you mean that you have an inductor connected in series with a capacitor, and the capacitor has an initial voltage Vo on it, and the initial inductor current Io is zero? And then you complete the circuit with a switch to "short them out"?
Or else maybe he means that he has the LC circuit you describe, but then he really does short out the inductor when it has maximum current going through it. This is a pretty benign short, since the voltage across the inductor is zero when the current is not changing (at the top of its sine wave current waveform). With that shorting wire in place across the inductor (and across the capacitor too, since the L and C are connected together), the current in the inductor will keep circulating through the inductor and wire, and will ramp down slowly with the L-R time constant, where the R is the resistance of the inductor windings and the shorting wire.SGT said:Let me see if I understand. You mean you have an ideal oscillating circuit and, when the current in the inductor is maximum, you open the circuit, making the current go instantaneously to zero?
Since the voltage in the inductor is [tex]L\frac{di}{dt}[/tex], making [tex]dt = 0[/tex] causes the voltage go to infinity.
A physical inductor has associated to it a winding resistance and a winding capacitance, so in practice you will have a high frequency, high voltage damped oscillation.
If the amplitude of the voltage is high enough, the air in the open gap can be ionized and a spark appears. This is observable when you switch off a fluorescent illumination circuit.
An EMP, or electromagnetic pulse, is a burst of electromagnetic energy that can disrupt electronic devices. It is created by rapidly changing or accelerating magnetic fields, which induce an electrical current in nearby conductive materials.
An inductor is a passive electronic component that stores energy in the form of a magnetic field. A capacitor, on the other hand, stores energy in the form of an electric field. Both are commonly used in electronic circuits to regulate and control the flow of electricity.
Yes, it is possible to create a small EMP using an inductor and capacitor. However, the strength of the EMP will depend on the size and power of the components used.
Creating a small EMP using an inductor and capacitor is generally not dangerous, as long as the components are not too large or powerful. However, it is important to exercise caution and follow proper safety measures when working with electricity.
A small EMP can be used for various purposes, such as testing the vulnerability of electronic devices to electromagnetic interference, disabling unauthorized electronic devices, or even as a form of non-lethal weapon in certain situations.