Re: Cap Voltage

["Tesla list" <tesla-at-pupman-dot-com>]

Original poster: "BunnyKiller by way of Terry Fritz <twftesla-at-uswest-dot-net>" <bigfoo39-at-telocity-dot-com>

Tesla list wrote:

> Original poster: "Tim by way of Terry Fritz <twftesla-at-uswest-dot-net>"
<warpath-at-wtp-dot-net>
>
> When the power transformer charges the capacitor, it(the transformer)
> charges using AC . When the capacitor is fully charged and then
> discharges , is it discharging as DC? Thanks, Tim

Hi Tim ...

In a sence yes it is discharging a direct current but it is doing it at
such a fast
speed , it beats the sinusoidal wave form of the transformer. If the cap is
discharging
into a fair amount of resistance, then it behaves as a slow AC wave from a
"peak" to 0
voltage ( in other words ...from 90 degrees to 120 degrees of the waveform)
(( hope i
didnt loose you here))

If the cap is connected to an inductor of the appropriate size then it will
behave as an
AC wave...

as the cap discharges into an inductor the energy is formed around the
inductor as a
magnetic field ... as the voltage drops in the cap, the magnetic field
surrounding the
inductor begins to collapse and re"energize" the inductor the inductor
"recharges the
cap "   ( this is what is known as an oscillating circuit) this goes on
back and forth
untill the voltage is eaten up by the wire resistance along with other
losses such as
heating the dielectric of the cap...    depending upon the cap size and
inductor size,
this can happen millions of times in a second   (  this is what kills caps
so quickly)

hope it helped you understand a bit more of caps and stuff  :)


Scot  D