Just wondering if there is anything very wrong about my personal idea of capacitors vs their standard definition as devices " consisting of one or more pairs of conductors separated by an insulator (etc)" --
Well, that's just like a broken wire, isn't it? The insulator / dielectric might be designed according to how much electric field it's required to hold, but unless the capacitor leaks, no current ever passes between the conductors. Rather, the field induces current at the other end upon discharge (etc). So wherever capacitors are in any circuit there are broken wires that upon certain conditions will allow current to be induced...
Also this thing I often hear about lightning being a natural capacitor -- it's more like lightning is a leak in a natural capacitor with the clouds and ground being the conductors, and air the dielectric.
This line of thinking has worked for me through further readings -- but I've never heard of capacitors being explained as broken wires designed to induce current pending certain conditions, so I really start to wonder.
Well, that's just like a broken wire, isn't it? The insulator / dielectric might be designed according to how much electric field it's required to hold, but unless the capacitor leaks, no current ever passes between the conductors. Rather, the field induces current at the other end upon discharge (etc). So wherever capacitors are in any circuit there are broken wires that upon certain conditions will allow current to be induced...
Also this thing I often hear about lightning being a natural capacitor -- it's more like lightning is a leak in a natural capacitor with the clouds and ground being the conductors, and air the dielectric.
This line of thinking has worked for me through further readings -- but I've never heard of capacitors being explained as broken wires designed to induce current pending certain conditions, so I really start to wonder.
