How do capacitors work?

>>8441691
So what's it like taking physics 2 for the first time?

>>8441694
How many times did you take physics 2?

>>8441703
Hopefully once.

Well how do capacitors work, smart guy?

The voltage source creating the potential difference is what causes the charge to build up on the plates to begin with.

There is no charge crossing the gap. For charge to cross the gap, the electric field would have to be strong enough to ionize the air so that it has a discharge path, but that'll only happen if they're close together or if there is a lot of charge on the plates.

They "fill up" on charge before continuing to pass current. Think of it as a reservoir that fills up at a rate proportional to the amount of water flowing in, before overflowing and being saturated. The rate of charge and discharge can be determined by any R value coupled with your cap.

>>8441733
There is a field in the gap. What does that field contain or do?

>>8441703
>tfw to intelligent to take basic courses freshman year

>>8441737

energy is stored in electric fields

you can't store electric potential energy without an electric field

i=C dV/dt familam

Electrons build up. Then they flow. There's electric potential in the capacitor to release charge down the path.

>>8441811
WRONG.
Get back to me when you study quantum particle physics, brainlet.

>>8441814
Well it was worth a shot. How does it work?

>>8441817
>How does it work?
>How
Ha, the nerve of this guy.
Try, *when*.

>>8441821
Well then explain it. If you learned something then maybe you'd understand wanting to learn something.

>>8441829
Well maybe if you were intelligent enough too realize electrons aren't even really electrons...

>>8441831
Ok shitposting aside, fuck I don't want to learn physics the hard way.

>>8441844
Idk man if you just wana know how to answer problems look up Michael van biezen on youtube. If you wanna know theory of shit just google it

>>8441874
Thx this was actually really nice

File: wtrcap1[3].gif (4KB, 400x300px) Image search: [Google]

4KB, 400x300px

>>8441691
Image (Water analogy for capacitor).

http://amasci.com/emotor/cap1.html (Capacitor misconceptions)
http://amasci.com/emotor/stmiscon.html#six (About the term "charge").

http://amasci.com/miscon/miscon.html
http://amasci.com/miscon/elect.html

Capacitor (Hollow sphere with membrane that is pushed in) (Electric field)
Inductor (whater wheel with attached flywheel) (Magnetic field)
Battery (pump)
Switch (shutoff valve)

>>8442383
The hydraulic analogy is dumb.

>>8442640
Of course it is.

>>8441874
You're an asshole. I don't care if this is bait. You're an asshole.
Fuck you.

>>8441814
>>8441831
>>8441874
>>8441821

I hope this is autism b8. I really do.

>>8441691
First, it's not the capacitor which causes charge to move, but the battery (or other voltage source).

Second, a voltage would move charge even if you didn't have two large plates close together; it just wouldn't move as much of it.

If you just connect wires to the terminals of a battery, the voltage will pull electrons from the wire connected to the (+) terminal and push electrons into the wire connected to the (-) terminal. But once the wires have developed enough of a charge imbalance, the charge will stop moving.

Think of it like a weak air pump trying to suck air out of a closed metal container and push it into another container; you'll only move so much air before the pressure differential entirely counteracts the force of the pump.

But a capacitor lets you move more charge with a given voltage, because the positive charge on the plate with too few electrons attracts the electrons on the plate which has too many, reducing the force which tends to push them back toward equilibrium.