Re> Liquid Dielectrics

To: tesla-at-grendel.objinc-dot-com
Subject: Re> Liquid Dielectrics
From: knagel-at-cnct-dot-com (Keith Nagel)
Date: Sat, 24 Feb 1996 13:20:42 -0500
>Received: from cnct-dot-com (root-at-cnct-dot-com [165.254.118.51]) by uucp-1.csn-dot-net (8.6.12/8.6.12) with ESMTP id MAA01285 for <tesla-at-grendel.objinc-dot-com>; Sat, 24 Feb 1996 12:09:38 -0700

Greetings:

I've played with this stuff before, it's real messy. But some thoughts here.

a) Althought the dielectric constant is huge, most of these things are
pretty lossy.

b) The dielectric constant is nonlinear with respect to frequency.

c) At low voltages ( under the breakdown potential of the material, roughly
2 volts )
   you will see a huge increase in capacity. I have measured tens of microfarads
   per square cm of surface area. You're a smart fellow, I'll leave it to you to
   figure out why. There is some excellent physics here. By the way, this is the
   basis of the super cap technology ala NEC.

d) Check out books on pulse discharge devices, I remember reading a paper about 
   using liquids for big caps ( reagan era SDI stuff ). The problem is
ionization
   of the electrolyte. Hard to avoid, and makes for a crummy cap. You
noticed this
   as gas bubbles on the plates.

Well, I have to go, it's so nice out today... what am I doing in front of
this machine?

Be seeing you

K.