MAKE presents: The Capacitor

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By Collin Cunningham
Posted 2009/02/26 @ 5:38 pm
Category Electronics, General

Simple yet effective, they come in a dizzying array of forms and materials. Vital to so many circuits for storage, timing, and filtration – the mighty capacitor!

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In this installment of the MAKE presents series I explain – how to build a leyden jar, how the capacitor was invented, and how to use one to light an LED. I incorporated some viewer requests from MAKE presents: The Resistor and I’ll be adding more in the next installment. Please a comment if there’s anything else you’d like to see covered in this series.

In the Maker Shed

12 Responses to MAKE presents: The Capacitor

Frenzy on February 26th, 2009 at 7:03 pm said:

I think you should do one covering ohm’s law. I’m still a little sketchy understanding it.

also i think transistors and diodes are in order i can see this stuff being played in high school science classes!

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groovypancakes.com

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Nick Taylor on February 26th, 2009 at 8:52 pm said:

Hi Collin – cheers for that, I am a total newb and it’s really useful to have the basics explained. I’ve kindof dived in at Arduino level with only very vague ideas about what the basic associated components do. I think there are probably quite a lot of people like me – programmers, who are starting in the middle etc, and who are struggling a bit because we’ve missed the beginning.

Anyway… did you know you look a bit like Graham from the Goodies?

http://www.genomicon.com/2009/02/geeks-from-the-future/

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csalzman on February 27th, 2009 at 5:53 am said:

Thanks for the video, extremely helpful!

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anachrocomputer on February 27th, 2009 at 6:08 am said:

Surely there was an earlier episode featuring the LED and the resistor?

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Jake von Slatt on February 27th, 2009 at 6:55 am said:

Oh that’s marvellous! Leyden jars are neat things and fun as heck to play with and I’ll second the Ohm’s law suggestion – a solid understanding of Ohm’s law is essential.

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Michael Una on February 27th, 2009 at 8:08 am said:

Nice one Collin. You make the perfect hip mad scientist.

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cyenobite2 on February 27th, 2009 at 12:21 pm said:

Thanks for that!
More please

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Anonymous on February 27th, 2009 at 3:46 pm said:

excellent video! very well done! I’m looking forward to more of these “make explains” videos. If someone had explained electronics to me like this when I was a kid, I probably would have taken a very different career path.

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Ann on February 28th, 2009 at 8:22 am said:

This series is great! A fantastic resource for noobs and even old hands who might not know about the history of their favourite components. Keep it up!

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Anonymous on February 28th, 2009 at 1:27 pm said:

An inductor vid would be fantastic – to complete the holy “Inductor, Resistor, Capacitor” triad

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Aaron on November 10th, 2009 at 11:49 am said:

Great vids, but capacitors are so much more than just “energy storage devices”. How are they different from a battery? Batteries store energy, right?

How about their amazing ability to pass AC signals and leave DC alone.
Or their ability to pass only signals above a certain frequency, or cut off frequencies above a frequency. Or do both in the same circuit.

How about their ability to filter a noise out of a DC circuit (like in a power supply) and fill in some extra juice when needed.

Or their ability to be used as a timer (when coupled with a resistor).

How about showing the square wave going into a cap and the output like you did in the inductor vid?

And lastly, how could you make a video about capacitors without blowing an electrolytic up!!! Come on!

I see a Capacitors Part II in your future…

Really great job guys!

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ron on April 24th, 2013 at 11:09 am said:

Thanks Collin, cool presentation….

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