Chronology Current Month Current Thread Current Date
[Year List] [Month List (current year)] [Date Index] [Thread Index] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Date Prev] [Date Next]

Batteries and Capacitors



'lo
In my calc based physics class, we are studying circuits and I talked about batteries and capacitors.
I explained that a capacitor stored electrical energy..yadda yadda

One of my students then asked me what the difference between a capacitor and a battery is. I was like a capacitor stores energy, and a battery is a voltage source.

He then asked me why you would need a capacitor in the first place, why not just use batteries. I was like you need to store charge for somethings and a battery can't do that.

It seems there is a piece in here that is important. He thinks something about the battery and the capacitor is the same and I am at a loss to explain what that could not be or how to explain the differences better.

My guess is that he thinks that a battery has charge and holds the charge...

Thanks
Tina

Tina Fanetti
Physics Instructor
Western Iowa Technical Community College
4647 Stone Ave
Sioux City IA 51102
712-274-8733 ext 1429