4 ms·
From an energetic standpoint, a capacitor is something that takes a trickle over a long time, and releases a flood over a short time. So it would be a water tow
by javajosh 10y ago
From an energetic standpoint, a capacitor is something that takes a trickle over a long time, and releases a flood over a short time. So it would be a water tower with a small input and a large gated output.
- gugagore 10y agoIt's just not clear to me how to think of the water tower as being an element of a hydraulic _circuit_.
- wbeaty 10y agoBut a water tower only has one terminal. A better "capacitor" would be a pair of water towers side by side. To "charge" this double-water-tower capacitor, pump some water from one to the other. And, when the water-tower capacitor is entirely "discharged," the towers both have the same water level inside. (As with a real capacitor, the total amount of water never changes.)