Capacitors, why even bother?

Drakkith

There's no reason to be rude.

jim hardy

This is what happens when you get your "knowledge" from answers dot com...

http://wiki.answers.com/Q/How_do_cap...store_a_charge

Capacitors don't really store charge at all. They allow negative charge to be transferred from one plate to the other, thus establishing an electric field between their plates. But there is no net increase in charge -the amount of charge on the capacitor's plates, after 'charging', is exactly the same as there was before 'charging' -it's just moved around! What capacitors 'store' is energy, not charge.

Read more: http://wiki.answers.com/Q/How_do_cap...#ixzz2G2TVMN7k

Scholarship on the subject was dismissed in post # 45

I know of no scholarly article on common sense.

and then common sense was dismissed in post # 62

By the way, what does "common sense" have to do with this argument?

Silly me - i came in thinking it was a discussion.

jean28

@cpatel23

Capacitors are great for quick discharges of energy that batteries could only dream of doing. The classical example is the flash of a camera. It would take a battery a long time to discharge the needed energy for the flash, and it would be beyond infuriating to have to wait standing still God knows how long until the camera finally releases the charge.

You will also learn in your electronics course that the Capacitors are also very useful in AC to DC converters because they help reduce the Ripple voltage.

As for the textbook, I highly recommend this one:

http://www.amazon.com/Microelectroni...circuit+design

I used a different one for my electronics course, and honestly speaking I didn't like it too much. It felt too theoretical without enough real life examples to understand what was going on. I will use the one in the link a gave above for my digital electronics class next semester and from what I've seen so far it is much better and easier to read than the one I used.

I suggest reading part one: Solid State Electronic and Devices. Parts two and three are for more advanced courses.

And just in case, this is the book I used for my course:
http://www.amazon.com/Microelectroni...ronic+circuits

If you are going to buy one, then I suggest the first one. If you will get them digitally, try to get both and use them as references.

Cheers.

sophiecentaur

Quote by Drakkith

There's no reason to be rude.

I don't think it's rudeness - it is just lack of empathy. Some people just latch on a particular interpretation of an idea and don't see the way the rest of the World (the 'informed' world) view it. They decide that they are 'right' and cannot reconsider. Can be quite a nightmare in personal dealings in the real world. Happily, on a forum like this it doesn't represent a problem.

berkeman

Thread closed for now. I'll try to have a look at it after the holiday.

EDIT -- Thread will just remain locked. Let's try not to be so argumentative over terminology, especially trying to push non-standard terminology.

Ratch -- check your PMs.

Similar Threads for: Capacitors, why even bother?
Thread	Forum	Replies
Should I even bother?	Academic Guidance	6
A.A. degree - Should I even bother?	Academic Guidance	13
should i bother?	Calculus	2
Why bother?	General Discussion	13
why bother?	General Discussion	5

Drakkith Recognitions: Gold Member	Capacitors, why even bother? There's no reason to be rude.

berkeman Mentor	Thread closed for now. I'll try to have a look at it after the holiday. EDIT -- Thread will just remain locked. Let's try not to be so argumentative over terminology, especially trying to push non-standard terminology. Ratch -- check your PMs.