4 ms·

I think it's much better to think of a capacitor as a spring: * they store energy; * they can release energy quickly; * when put in parallel they get stronge

by carlob 13y ago

I think it's much better to think of a capacitor as a spring: * they store energy; * they can release energy quickly; * when put in parallel they get stronger; * when put in series they get weaker; * the RCL circuit differential equation is the same differential equation as the damped harmonic oscillator.

ijager 13y ago
That is better given one is more comfortable with mechanical systems. Since my field is EE, I tend to do the opposite: translate a problem to the electrical domain to be more intuitive about it. You can use Bond graphs[1] to easily translate between different domains (Mechanical translation,Mechanical rotation, Electromagnetic, Hydraulic and Thermic in a more limited way). This technique generalises force and voltage to "Effort" and velocity and current to "Flow". [1]:https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bond_graph https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bond_graph