Re: dissectible capacitor

[Herbert H Gottlieb <herbgottlieb@JUNO.COM>]

Another thing that you might try is to rub your hands over the surfaces
of the plastic as soon as the charged capacitor has been taken apart..
You can feel
a very very mild static charge as you do so. When you reassemble the
parts
gthe capacitor will produce a reduced spark or no spark all wshen the
plates
are shorted by a connecting wire.


On Tue, 30 May 2000 17:28:51 -0700 Leigh Palmer <palmer@SFU.CA> writes:
> > Can someone explain? If some part of my explanation was not clear,
> > I'd be happy to try to provide additional details if the video
> > provides them. Carl
>
> This effect was discovered by Benjamin Franklin. The glass becomes
> strongly polarized and free charge patially neutralizes the surface
> charge. It does not relax internally because glass is an insulator.
>
> This makes a dandy demonstration. The details of the physics don't
> matter; the phenomenon should be seen for its own sake.
>
> Leigh