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Re: "Charged" capacitor mis-terminology



Once upon a time an eighth grader grabbed a Leyden jar to put it away.
The left hand was on the stainless steel cart, the right hand was on the
ball of the Leyden jar. The Leyden jar had not been discharged. You will
never convince me (I was the student) that capacitors do not become
charged. It is certainly true that they store energy. It is certainly
true that the outside of the jar was oppositely charged and that the NET
charge on the jar was zero, but the inside of that jar most assuredly was
charged.

On Sat, 14 Feb 1998, Bob Sciamanda wrote:

I'm sorry, but I really think this objection is silly. In almost 40 year=
s
of teaching physics I have never known this phraseology to be
mis-interpreted, nor did any danger of this happening ever even occur to =
me
until I first saw it exposed on this list. A language which can peaceabl=
y
live with "lb." as the abbreviation for "pound" has long since learned th=
at
there are more serious battles to wage than the proper choice of a harmle=
ss
sound.
=20
-Bob
=20
Bob Sciamanda sciamanda@edinboro.edu
Dept of Physics trebor@velocity.net
Edinboro Univ of PA http://www.edinboro.edu/~sciamanda/home.html
Edinboro, PA (814)838-7185
=20
=20
=20
Absolute space, that is to say, the mark to which it would be necessary t=
o
refer the earth to know whether it really moves, has no objective
existence.... The two propositions: "The earth turns round" and "it is mo=
re
convenient to suppose the earth turns round" have the same meaning; there=
is
nothing more in the one than in the other.
=20
-Poincar=E9, Jules Henri (1854-1912): La Science et l'hypoth=E8se.
=20
=20
=20