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@cdmnky all i've gotten is like "it stores energy and you can put it in a circuit to make a blinky light" and nobody's ever explained why those two things are true or how they're related
My attempt at a simple explanation of capacitors
@kat @cdmnky so, you know how electrons repel each other? A capacitor is basically two metal plates very close together, so you can push electrons into one plate and they push the electrons out of the other. You can only push so many electrons into one of the plates though, and that's its capacity. It's used in timing circuits because it takes a certain amount of time for the output to drop below a certain level, and that's based on its capacity, so you can use it to make a delay using some transistors & stuff (often prepackaged in something like a 555 timer chip)
re: My attempt at a simple explanation of capacitors
@starseeker @cdmnky "push electrons into one plate and they push the electrons out of the other" is really vague haha
re:// My attempt at a simple explanation of capacitors
@starseeker @kat @cdmnky
maybe a better perspective would be a tub that you can fill and empty with water?
as far as i know, capacitors are tubs that, when filled to a certain level, empty out very quickly
re:// My attempt at a simple explanation of capacitors
@pearshapes @kat @cdmnky mmm, not quite; they don't do the hit-a-certain-level-and-discharge thing themselves (but most circuits that use them have something that discharges them once they get full)
re:// My attempt at a simple explanation of capacitors
@starseeker @pearshapes @cdmnky this is actually re-confusing me after the explanations i thought made sense last night haha
re:// My attempt at a simple explanation of capacitors
@kat @pearshapes @cdmnky unfortunately, I'm not sure those explanations were entirely correct, since capacitors don't self-discharge
(which makes working on old CRTs dangerous; they've got massive capacitors with high voltages easily capable of delivering lethal shocks, and they can often be fully charged even years after the device was last plugged in)
re:// My attempt at a simple explanation of capacitors
@starseeker @pearshapes @cdmnky i'm not really sure how simple circuits work then, where you have a battery, a capacitor, and an LED and it makes a blinky light
re:// My attempt at a simple explanation of capacitors
@kat @pearshapes @cdmnky the simplest circuits I know of for making blinky lights involve more components than that (transistors, special diodes, or relays)
re:// My attempt at a simple explanation of capacitors
@kat @pearshapes @cdmnky Like this one (which, I'll confess, I don't quite understand myself at first glance):
re:// My attempt at a simple explanation of capacitors
@starseeker @pearshapes @cdmnky ok i give up i'm too stupid to ever do any of this
re:// My attempt at a simple explanation of capacitors
@kat sorry ;w;
re:// My attempt at a simple explanation of capacitors
@starseeker not your fault i'm stupid
re:// My attempt at a simple explanation of capacitors
@kat @starseeker @pearshapes @cdmnky you need more than just that, you can't make an oscillator without some kind of active element
-F
re:// My attempt at a simple explanation of capacitors
@starseeker @kat @pearshapes @cdmnky capacitors do self-discharge just not very fast (in good capacitors)
-F
re:// My attempt at a simple explanation of capacitors
@pearshapes @starseeker @kat @cdmnky sort of like the flood gate in a dam?