Re: Awesome Quarter Shrinking Capacitors on EBAY

["Tesla list" <tesla-at-pupman-dot-com>]

Original poster: Mark Broker <mbroker-at-thegeekgroup-dot-org> 

John, an "m" or an "M" always refers to micro.  The standard units for 
capacitors are Farad, microfarad, and picofarad.  Nano and especially milli 
are rarely, if ever, used.  I always wondered why cap manufacturers 
couldn't use "u" for micro - it looks close enough to Greek "mu" and is 
certainly much less ambiguous than "M".

I think most of us have stories of EEs showing their ignorance in front of 
the AAS techs....  And I have no problems admitting that I've been on both 
ends more than once.  ;)

Cheers,

Mark Broker
Chief Engineer, The Geek Group



On Tue, 07 Oct 2003 21:04:49 -0600, Tesla list <tesla-at-pupman-dot-com> wrote:

>Original poster: John <fireba8104-at-yahoo-dot-com> Hello,
>This capacitor is not a electrolytic or a cap bank.
>It is in an oil filled metal can with large white ceramic insulators.
>I am not sure what kind of dielectric, but I believe it to be a type of 
>plastic.
>The exact wording on the side of the cap reads as follows:
>KN128
>4MFD
>4000VAC
>I was unsure as to weather this was Milli or Micro. My hopes were 
>confirmed when I asked the man who gave it to me, a professional 
>electrical engineer.(0.004). I think it's from 
><http://www.plasticcapacitors-dot-com/>http://www.plasticcapacitors-dot-com, after 
>all he is a customer.
>Cheers,
>John