9 Jun
2009
9 Jun
'09
6:46 p.m.
Dave McGuire wrote:
On Jun 9, 2009, at 2:00 PM, Fred Cisin wrote:
Would a "thunder cloud" be considered a capacitor?
Of course, with the other "plate" being the earth.
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.
(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. If so, how many MF would lightning take?
LOTS. Think plate area. :) > Was "capacitator" ever a valid name?
Sounds like a political leader or a type of potato chip.