Re: determining capacitance of a topload?

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

Original poster: "Antonio Carlos M. de Queiroz" <acmq-at-compuland-dot-com.br> 

Tesla list wrote:
 >
 > Original poster: "Hydrogen18" <hydrogen18-at-hydrogen18-dot-com>
 >
 > Could he not get some aluminum flashing and lay a 6 x 6 area with it, then
 > connect all the sheets together electrically, and then just measure?

No. The result would be totally dependent on the shape of the assembly
and on what is close to it. Capacitance is the ratio between charge
and voltage. The amount of charge that gets into a conductor at a given
voltage is (normally) proportional to the voltage (linear capacitance),
but is a complicated function of the geometry. The surface area alone
doesn't have any particular importance.

Antonio Carlos M. de Queiroz