Farads (Was: IBM 029 progress

[Josh Dersch]

On Jun 9, 2009, at 11:52 AM, Dave McGuire <mcguire at neurotica.com> wrote:

> On Jun 9, 2009, at 2:46 PM, Brent Hilpert wrote:
>>>>>> (incidentally, how come MF does not mean Mega Farad)
>>>>> Since the largest capacitor I have ever heard of is 100 Farads, it
>>>>> really doesn't seem likely that there will be any confusion.
>>>>
>>>> Would a "thunder cloud" be considered a capacitor?
>>>
>>>   Of course, with the other "plate" being the earth.
>>>
>>>> If so, how many MF would lightning take?
>>>
>>>   LOTS.  Think plate area. :)
>>
>> Without some numbers, I'm not entirely sure about that. Large plate  
>> area but
>> also a rather thick dielectric and hence large plate separation.  
>> Yes, a
>> tremendous amount of energy is released in a lightning strike (aka  
>> dielectric
>> breakdown) but that comes with a very high voltage. C=Q/V, energy  
>> is also a
>> function of Q & V, large amount of energy does not necessarily  
>> imply large C.
>
>  Hmm yes, I agree.  I'd love to do a SPICE simulation of some sort  
> of oscillator using a cloud/earth capacitor. :)
>

Then add in a flux-capacitor / delorean simulator to test out Doc  
Brown's theories on time travel...


>            -Dave
>
> -- 
> Dave McGuire
> Port Charlotte, FL
>
>