Re: interesting secondary phenomonea

["Tesla list" <tesla@xxxxxxxxxx>]

Original poster: "resonance" <resonance@xxxxxxxxxxxx>


Yes, this is correct.  I checked with one of my old Profs at 
UW-Madison and they confirmed this.  The storage mechanism is 
different for vac caps as opposed to standard caps with dielectrics 
such as air or plastic.

Dr. Resonance

> Hi DC and Gavin,
>
> I believe the charge is on the surface of the conductor.  It cant be 
> inside the metal as electrons in metals are "free" and will try to 
> get away from each other, hence they will be distributed about the 
> surface whether a vacuum or dialectric material exist between the 
> plates of the capacitor.  If a vacuum, there is no dialectric to 
> polarize.  If dialectric material is present, the electron obits 
> will be distorted by the field strength between the plates until the 
> field is strong enough to pull the electrons "free" (dialectric breakdown).
>
> Gerry R.