>
> The energy put into a capacitor with an insulating dielectric when
> charging it
> is actually the work required to polarize the dielectic between the
> plates. The
> more it gets polarized the more it resists even more polarization which i=
s
> why
> the charge and discharge curves looks the way they do.
>
> Back at school they explained capacitor charge as changes to the
dielectric but at the end of the course they came clean and said that they
could't really explain how they work because both a vacuum and air can be
used as a dielectic which would be at odds to their initial explanation.

I also seem to remember there was something wrong with the maths when
calculating capacitance and energy storage.  Something along the lines of
if you charge 1 capacitor to a known voltage then use it to charge an
identical capacitor, measure the voltage, then calculate the energy and you
end up with either 1/2 or double the original stored energy.

But they assured us that in-spite of their inability to explain it to us
that, our TV's would continue to work.  Funny thing is, it seems that the
caps are most likely responsible for their failure :)

Justin
--=20
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