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Saturday, January 14, 2012

Discharging a Capacitor with a Coin!

Capacitors store a static electric charge for a given time and then release the charge all at once when discharged. To discharge a capacitor all you need to do it short it out. "Short it out" means to create a circuit that connects the cathode (-) [short pin] and anode (+) [long pin] together by some medium that doesn't include another power source. When a battery is hooked up to a capacitor it will charge til it has reached full capacity, which will stop electric charge from flowing through the circuit (to the battery) without discharging the capacitor. I have a quick experiment video to get you familiar with the process of charging and discharging a capacitor:

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