In reply to Jones Beene's message of Fri, 11 Sep 2015 19:15:44 -0700: Hi, [snip] >Plus we should remember that capacitors technically do not store >charge.... Instead, charge is segregated and transported via the external >circuit as EMF and stored as energy in the electric field between the plates >but not as charge on the plates. To charge a capacitor is not to store >actual electrostatic charge - but to use circuits to store energy in a >dielectric using electrons as charge carriers. In short, we are adding >information and control, in order to hybridize the battery of tomorrow.
I'm fairly sure this is wrong. Capacitors do indeed store charge on the plates. The effect of the dielectric is to make the plates appear as though they were closer together than they actually are. IOW each plate "feels" the other more strongly than the separation distance in vacuum would imply. If no charge were stored, then no current could flow. Regards, Robin van Spaandonk http://rvanspaa.freehostia.com/project.html
