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Re: RC circuit and oscilloscopes



Je 03:48 PM 13.05.99 -0700, William Beaty skribis:

On Thu, 13 May 1999, Yanai Krutman wrote:

Anybody has a way to explain to first year students ( only mech
theory they have ), how a capacitor is charged and discharged,
in terms of I(t) or Q(t)??
I need to talk on this may be 5 min!?
Suggestions are wellcome.

Here is an analogy which helped me immensely:

_________
_ / | | \ _
/ _____| |_____ \
/ / | | \ \ THICK IRON SPHERE, RUBBER WALL
| | | | | | DOWN THE MIDDLE, BOTH SIDES FULL
| | | | | | OF WATER, w/CONNECTING HOSES
| | | | | |
| | | | | |
\// \_____| |_____/ \\/
//\ _ | | _ /\\
___// \____|_|____/ \\____
---- ----

When water is injected into the above device through one hose, an equal
amount of water is forced out through the other hose. Yet the rubber wall
prevents any water from flowing through this "capacitor".

Extremely helpful illustration!

Thanks,

Ken

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| Ken CAVINESS Physics at Southern Adventist University |
| caviness@southern.edu ESPERANTO = Lingvo internacia |
| http://southern.edu/~caviness/ E-o/English/Français/Deutsch |
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