What's to replace "charged?"

[William Beaty <billb@eskimo.com>]

On Fri, 13 Feb 1998, Ken Fox wrote:

> I read with interest that to say a capacitor is charged is wrong. I cofess
> to have made that error many times, and am soon to teach the topic again.
> What I missed in the long statement was the correct phrasing to describe
> what I have long called a charged capacitor. Energized?

Here's an idea.  In electrical terms, what do we call it when an electron
and positron arise from the vacuum?  Or when a neutral hydrogen atom is
broken up into widely separated electron and proton?  No net charge is
created in these situations.  They're very similar to capacitors; they
initially start out neutral, then energy is introduced and a pair of
oppositely-charged regions appear.  No charge is stored, but energy is
stored.  "Pair production" isn't good, since it refers to the particles,
it's not really an electrical term.  "Ionized" is pretty close, but like
"charged" it refers to a single plate, and we never "ionize" the whole
capacitor. 

Possibilities to replace "charge the capacitor":
    Separate the capacitor plates' opposite charges
    Energize the capacitor
    Store energy in the capacitor
    Store flux in the capacitor
    Un-cancel the capacitor plates' charges
    De-neutralize the capacitor
    Create a Charge-Imbalance within the capacitor

Possibilities to replace "discharge the capacitor":
    Let the separated charges fall together
    De-energize the capacitor
    Remove the stored energy
    Remove the stored flux
    Cancel the capacitor's charges
    Neutralize the capacitor
    Remove the Charge-Imbalance

I confess that I don't really like any of these.  "Charged" is extremely
convenient and is traditional, but the negative aspects convinced me to
abandon it.

When explaining electricity, I harp on the fact that conductors and
insulators are *made* of canceled-out opposite charge.  Same with
capacitors, so when I catch myself about to say "charged", I instead say

  "The metal is full of cancelled-out opposite charge.  I pull one
   polarity of the atoms' charges from one plate and deposit them on the
   other, which uncancels the capacitor plates' charges and causes two
   areas of charge-imbalance of opposite polarity to appear, and which
   also stores energy in the capacitor as flux which connects opposite
   charges becomes "stretched" and fills the space between the capacitor
   plates.

Seriously. I believe in the power of repetition.  Using shorthand like
"charged," even if it was correct, subverts opportunities to present
concepts again and again.  The above is aimed at adult electronics people. 
If I ever became a K-12 science teacher, god help the kids!


((((((((((((((((((((( ( (  (   (    (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