Re: Dielectric absorption (was LED Charge Indicator)

["Tesla list" <tesla@xxxxxxxxxx>]

Original poster: dave pierson <davep@xxxxxxxx>

>Dielectric absorption was demonstrated dramatically when I unrolled a
> defibrillation capacitor (36uF 5kV) and sparks were developing giving
> me little shocks.  Tearing the dielectric and film/foil gave rows of tiny
> sparks captured with my digital SLR camera.
   Is this _dielectric absorption_, or a mutant form of  'frictional' static
   electricity.

   Once upon a time, when film was used in cameras (8)>>), disassembling
   the film for processing in a DARK room led to sparklies (I assume it
   still does.....)

   (OK:
   I may be being pedantic, but was involved in 'real' dielectric
   absorption measurements in instrumentation, when getting
   started.  by definition this was a residual charge that did not
   leave the cap immediately...  Occurs in all dielectrics, usually
   too small to be noticable....)

   best
      dwp