3 ms·

Large, charged capacitors are pretty frightening. Batteries too, but their discharge rate is limited to the speed of the chemical reaction.

LoganDark 4mo ago
Are capacitors not limited by a chemical reaction?
- SoftTalker 4mo ago
  Not AFAIK. A simple capacitor is two metal plates separated by an insulator, allowing an electrical charge to accumulate. Discharge would only be limited by the current-carrying capacity of the wiring.
- deleted 4mo ago
  [deleted]
- modeless 4mo ago
  Not generally, no. Capacitors usually store electrons in a conductor so they are free to move instantly. Movement of free electrons within a conductor is not considered a chemical reaction.
  - mikepurvis 4mo ago
    aka a lightning bolt
    - groos 4mo ago
      Not really as large capacity capacitors (this one seems to be 4V) tend to be low voltage as well. You can touch the terminals without harm but attempting to short them is going to be, er, entertaining. I have accidentally touched a 200V capacitor and it was not fun.
      - SoftTalker 4mo ago
        That's interesting. What good is 4V in an EV? You'd need cables as thick as your arm to handle the amperage to do anything useful.
        adrian_b 4mo ago
        You might be able to put more in series if the tolerance of the capacitance value is low enough. Otherwise, you can use a step-up voltage converter to generate a voltage as high as you want, in order to distribute power at greater distances. You can make bidirectional converters, which work as step-down converters for charging and as step-up converters for discharging.
      - LoganDark 4mo ago
        > attempting to short them is going to be, er, entertaining. I think of Styropyro's something like 400 car batteries wired together.
- saintfire 4mo ago
  Limited by material. They store electric charge by using thin layers of insulating material and pooling negative charge on one side and positive on the other. You can puncture the material and release energy as a typical conductor, it's not stored chemically.

LoganDark 4mo ago

Are capacitors not limited by a chemical reaction?

SoftTalker 4mo ago
Not AFAIK. A simple capacitor is two metal plates separated by an insulator, allowing an electrical charge to accumulate. Discharge would only be limited by the current-carrying capacity of the wiring.
deleted 4mo ago
[deleted]
modeless 4mo ago
Not generally, no. Capacitors usually store electrons in a conductor so they are free to move instantly. Movement of free electrons within a conductor is not considered a chemical reaction.
- mikepurvis 4mo ago
  aka a lightning bolt
  - groos 4mo ago
    Not really as large capacity capacitors (this one seems to be 4V) tend to be low voltage as well. You can touch the terminals without harm but attempting to short them is going to be, er, entertaining. I have accidentally touched a 200V capacitor and it was not fun.
    - SoftTalker 4mo ago
      That's interesting. What good is 4V in an EV? You'd need cables as thick as your arm to handle the amperage to do anything useful.
      - adrian_b 4mo ago
        You might be able to put more in series if the tolerance of the capacitance value is low enough. Otherwise, you can use a step-up voltage converter to generate a voltage as high as you want, in order to distribute power at greater distances. You can make bidirectional converters, which work as step-down converters for charging and as step-up converters for discharging.
    - LoganDark 4mo ago
      > attempting to short them is going to be, er, entertaining. I think of Styropyro's something like 400 car batteries wired together.
saintfire 4mo ago
Limited by material. They store electric charge by using thin layers of insulating material and pooling negative charge on one side and positive on the other. You can puncture the material and release energy as a typical conductor, it's not stored chemically.