if i rectify my AC and then charge a capacitor, if the electrons are not "flowing", what exactly is building up the charge inside that capacitor?

The electrons do move, but there are so many in even a small copper wire, that they don't have to move far to charge up a practical size capacitor. Do the calculations for the number of atoms in a piece of copper (assuming 1 free electron per copper atom) and then the number of electrons in a charged capacitor (from Q = CV) and you will see what we mean.

 

"one electron is 1.6*10^-19 coulombs, but there is 8.5*10^28 of them in a cubic meter of copper."

I'm not sure what "them" means. Is them an electron or a Coulomb? Surely it can't be either.

1.6 x 10 to the 19 power electrons is one Coulomb of charge. Located in one place it is one volt. If all the charge moves in one sec, it becomes one ampere.
A mole of copper is 63.54 grams and has 6.02 x 10 to the 23 power of atoms. Each atom has 29 electrons. So each mole of atoms has 29 moles of electrons. How many grams make a cubic foot? I believe that number is off.

 

I didnt do the numbers, just made the interpretation of the equation from the wiki link to make it more understnadable. And by them I meant copper atoms, and you should count just the free electrons in the conduction band, not all of them.

 

Hello Denesius, Have you ever seen a bunch of metal balls hanging from strings all lined up? You know, you take the end ball and swing into the line of balls........and as soon as your ball hits..........the ball on the other side of the string comes flying out? Have you ever seen that or played with one?
Think if those balls were electrons............................did any of those electrons move vary far?
No................except for the first one and the last one.
The study of the first one and the last one are known as the study of electronics.
The study of the middle balls is physics. And believe me.......they do not know.

 

Hello Denesius, Have you ever seen a bunch of metal balls hanging from strings all lined up? You know, you take the end ball and swing into the line of balls........and as soon as your ball hits..........the ball on the other side of the string comes flying out?

Very cute analogy! I've gotten a grasp on the AC circuit. As to DC, according to this discussion, electrons move very slowly in a conductor of DC current. In a battery, a chemical reaction at the reduction electrode produces free electrons, that in a completed circuit promote the oxidation reaction at the other pole. I assume the electrons that fall out of the conductor at that end are enough to complete the chemical reaction-even accepting the low individual propagation. Looks like time for some math!