How to Make Capacitors - Low Voltage Homemade/DIY Capacitors

A variety of info on how to make low voltage capacitors. I start with demonstrating making a temporary flat plate capacitor, then a spiral capacitor and then a salt water jar capacitor, sometimes called a salt water Leyden jar. Then I talk about capacitance and the unit farad and show the difference between microfarad, nanofarad and picofarad. Next, using the formula for a flat plate capacitor as a base I discuss the affect of capacitor area and distance between the plates on the capacitance. I also go over the dielectric constant, sometimes called the relative permittivity, and end with the formula for a cylindrical capacitor. All this is to help in designing capacitors. I then show how to use a meter, DMM, to measure capacitance. That's followed by two sample variable capacitors and then a discussion about breakdown voltage, or dielectric strength.

Watch the "How to Make High Voltage Capacitors - Homemade/DIY" video here:
   • How to Make High Voltage Capacitors -...  

To make higher capacitance capacitors, for around 62 microfarads see my "How to Make an Electrolytic Capacitor" video here:
   • How to Make Electrolytic Capacitors  

And for even higher capacitance, 580 microfarads, see my "How to Make a High Capacitance Electrolytic Capacitor" video here:
   • How to Make a High Capacitance Electr...  

For details about my work with Barium Titanate capacitors, see:
http://rimstar.org/materials/dielectr...

For examples of how I've figured out the dielectric constant of various materials, see my webpage here:
http://rimstar.org/materials/dielectr...

3D capacitor animation done using Blender 2.63.

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https://twitter.com/#!/RimStarz

http://rimstar.org