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Re: Capacitor charge, were is it?



In a message dated 96-11-02 01:16:51 EST, you write:

<snip>

<< Yes, electrons travel through a vacuum, but not in the conventional sense
 of conduction of electricity through matter.  The way I understand it, the
 conduction of electricity through matter is more of a field phenomenon
 where electrons actually move at a very small fraction of the speed of
 what we consider to be "current.  The individual electrons only make short
 jumps between atoms, but the disturbance that one electron has on the next 
 travels from one end of the wire to the next at nearly the speed of light
 Sort of like a crowded highway at rush hour...a disturbance at one end of
 the line of traffic can propagate back through the line of cars much
 faster than the cars can actually move. >>

<snip>

Yes! excelent insight.  I bellieve you have a piece of the problem.  Electron
flow in a condutor is rather slow, they do NOT move at the speed of light.
 Here is another analogy: imagine a large wheel.  If you begin to turn it,
the entire wheel moves as a unit and mechanical energy is "transimitted"
instantly to all parts of the wheel even though the wheel isn't moving very
fast.  The wheels atoms didn't have to travel rapidly anywhere for this
"energy flow" to happen instantly.

-DavidF-