> before "modern electronics", so the charge lasted longer than a few seconds. If you take any capacitor and charge it, it'll take quite some time to discharge

> before "modern electronics", so the charge lasted longer than a few seconds. If you take any capacitor and charge it, it'll take quite some time to discharge on its own. The discharge is usually controlled by a resistor in parallel with the capacitor on the PCB. Removing the capacitor from the board disconnects it from the discharge resistor. So not much "modern electronics" going on here :-P