Are capacitors a viable option for storing charge in electronic circuits?

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SUMMARY

Capacitors are effective for short-term energy storage and are primarily used in applications requiring rapid charge and discharge cycles, such as camera flashes and smoothing voltage fluctuations in circuits. In contrast, rechargeable batteries are more suitable for long-term energy storage due to their higher energy capacity and efficiency. Capacitors complement batteries in energy systems by reducing wear on batteries during short bursts of energy demand. Understanding the distinct roles of capacitors and batteries is essential for optimizing electronic circuit designs.

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  • #61
Ratch,

Give us one example of where the term "charging" would be appropriate usage.
 
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  • #62
sophiecentaur,

You and the others who use your terminoligy are in a minority ...

I would rather be in the correct minority than the wrong majority.

jim hardy,

Try Asimov, On Physics and View from a Height. And Don Quixote.

Fiction writers? By the way, what does "common sense" have to do with this argument? I am either right or wrong. Some of you said I was right even though I should use wrong nomenclature.

the_emi_guy,

Give us one example of where the term "charging" would be appropriate usage.

Ratch

I can't think of any for capacitors, and I have not seen any in the arguments against my position.
 
  • #63
You can't think of *any* circumstance where you could correctly use the term "charging". We should remove it from our technical vocabulary entirely?
 
  • #64
Ratch
You are losing your Capacity to see reason. That's a chargeable offence, I think. It goes against current thinking and is Potentially troublesome. Why resist? You will feel more at Ohm with things if you conduct yourself better. Your powers of Induction should bring you to a terminal conclusion. :biggrin: Or is it a case of Do or Die - electric?
 
  • #65
deleted, on second thought...

Merry Christmas to all !
 
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  • #66
:smile::smile: And to you Jim and all the others :smile::smile:
 
  • #67
Well, I think this thread has run its course...
 
  • #68
sophiecentaur,

I admit I am biased toward TRUE meaning of words, and not the FALSE impression caused by the time decay of proper usage. The timely constant reminder I give when I talk about misnomers shows my incapacity to conduct myself as though they were never spoken. My inability to go with the current flow is intrinsic within me. For that I apologize.

Ratch
 
  • #69
There's no reason to be rude.
 
  • #70
This is what happens when you get your "knowledge" from answers dot com...

http://wiki.answers.com/Q/How_do_capacitors_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_capacitors_store_a_charge#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.
 
  • #71
@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:

https://www.amazon.com/dp/0073380458/?tag=pfamazon01-20

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:
https://www.amazon.com/dp/0195323033/?tag=pfamazon01-20


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.
 
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  • #72
Drakkith said:
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.
 
  • #73
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.
 
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