Re: CHARGED CAPACITOR TERM

[William Beaty <billb@eskimo.com>]

On Sun, 15 Feb 1998, Herbert H. Gottlieb wrote:

> Changes always bring new problems.  If you short your ENERGIZED
> capacitor, will you produce a discharge current? ...or will it be a
> de-energized current?  If its a de-energized current, will the current
> flow in the same direction as electron curren ---- or will it flow in
> the direction of conventional current? 

Is the cure worse than the problem?  I don't know.  For someone who first
aquires the misconception and later learns how to defeat it, the cure is a
breath of fresh air.  I don't know how the changed terminology will affect
someone who is learning these concepts for the first time.


If one knows that "capacitors store electrical energy" or "potential
difference" or something similar, then maybe that person will correctly
predict that the capacitor will CAUSE a current in a complete circuit,
rather than imaging the capacitor as being a supplier of charge to the
circuit.

  (Side issue: I've found that many people imagine circuits to be "empty
  pipes" which act as ducts for charge, which implies that the flowing
  charge must come from some source in the circuit.  Saying "capacitors
  store charge" or "during discharge, the charge leaves the capacitor"
  would play right into the "empty pipes" misconception and become this:

    During discharge, the charges which flow in the complete circuit are
    supplied by the capacitor.

  How many students have THIS misconception?  I bet the number is
  suprising.


((((((((((((((((((((( ( (  (   (    (O)    )   )  ) ) )))))))))))))))))))))
William J. Beaty                                  SCIENCE HOBBYIST website
billb@eskimo.com                                  www.eskimo.com/~billb
EE/programmer/sci-exhibits          science projects, tesla, weird science
Seattle, WA   206-781-3320          freenrg-L taoshum-L vortex-L webhead-L