Capacitors

"PartyPooper2012" (PartyPooper2012) 07/08/2020 at 14:46 • Filed to: None

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In simple world, a capacitor stores energy and then releases it.

A supercapacitor is a capacitor that holds more energy.

What does a flex capacitor do... if it were real? Does it alternate amount of energy stored?

So if regular capacitor holds X and supercapacitor holds 2X... Flex Capacitor holds somewhere in between X and 2X? Does it hold.... between 0 and infinity?

If a capacitor could... hold infinity of energy.. or 1.21 gigawatts... could we use it for something useful?

EDIT: FLUX. Obviously.. .FLUX CAPACITOR

KingT- 60% of the time, it works every time > PartyPooper2012 07/08/2020 at 14:54

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You mean “Flux” capacitor, right? It’s a dangerous thing in the wrong hands

Snuze: Needs another Swede > PartyPooper2012 07/08/2020 at 15:23

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I would assume a “flex” capacitor is just a flexible capacitor, being able to change shape.  

RallyWrench > KingT- 60% of the time, it works every time 07/08/2020 at 15:27

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Presumably this is after Biff got in and set us on the dark timeline, so now we’re fucked. 

HammerheadFistpunch > PartyPooper2012 07/08/2020 at 15:32

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I assume you mean flux, in which case I would assume it has some kind of ability to store and distribute temporal flux...whatever that is. Electromagnetic flux is the thing that creates a magnetic field or RF signals. If I had to put in more thought than  the writers did in coming up with some technobabble for a movie I would assume that time creates a similar flux field that the capacitor has the ability to manipulate in some way, either to shape it like a cap or store and release it. The 1.21 Gigawatts (jiga is an acceptable pronunciation btw) I assume simply powers some kind of conversion of energy to mass or mass to energy to do it...or something.

user314 > KingT- 60% of the time, it works every time 07/08/2020 at 15:34

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“ Great Scott! ”

PartyPooper2012 > HammerheadFistpunch 07/08/2020 at 15:46

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I mean flux. yes...

Now that I think about it... flux is used in soldi ering. Could it be that simple? a capacitor full of flux? Could it possibly hold 1.21 Jiggawatts?

PartyPooper2012 > Snuze: Needs another Swede 07/08/2020 at 15:48

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It’s a pretty good ass essment. I would go with it. Tho I meant flux... Flux is used in soldiering... could it just be a capacitor full of flux? 

SBA Thanks You For All The Fish > PartyPooper2012 07/08/2020 at 16:51

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I always took it (BS and MS EE here) to be movie- pseudo-science for an energy storage device which stockpiles energy in the form of MAGNETIC FLUX, in high densities, across a magnetically-permeable membrane/coil/magnetic material.

Capacitors basically store energy in the form of electric fields from positive and negative electric charged particles ( aka electrons) across a thin membrane.

so, some wiseguy in the writers’ room got the idea that “maybe you could do a ‘capacitor’ that did the same thing with magnetic flux”.

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The ironic part of this is that most modern ICE engines have at least one (I have 8 on each of my LS/LQ engines) “energy storage device using magnetic flux”... it’s the ignition coil that holds energy in a flux state in the magnetic material, and releases it with every firing pulse delivered to the sparkplug. So, yeah, you have “flux capacitors” in your car... and no, they won’t deliver 1.21 gigawatts.

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PartyPooper2012 > SBA Thanks You For All The Fish 07/08/2020 at 20:21

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no. not yet... but what if they could... could we abandon the fuel they ignite and use the oomph to propel us through time?... or just distance?

Distraxi's idea of perfection is a Jagroen > PartyPooper2012 07/08/2020 at 22:23

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FLEX (not flux) capacitors are actually a thing. They’re known as dielectric elastomer actuators, which are one form of artificial muscle.

Basically a capacitor is two sheets of metal film separated by a non-conductive strip (which gets rolled up in a coil and stuck in a can to make the capacitors we’re familiar with) . If you char ge the cap, the films have opposite charge so they want to attract each other. If you make the insulating strip of something squishy and flexible , the charged films will squeeze it between them , which means it extrudes in the other direction . If you hook the ends of the strip up to somethi ng and apply a bit of tension , that extrusion can be turned into meaningful work: charge the cap and it relaxes the tension , discharge it and it pulls, just like a muscle .

A side effect is that as the insulator is squished, the conductive layers get closer together so the capacitance cha n ges (and thi s cha n ge in capacitance is how the energy that comes out on the mechanical side goes in on the electrical side) . By pulling on the muscle and then measuring the capacitance, you can measure the amount of stretch that’s happened - this “flexible displacement sensor” effect is used in wearables such as motion capture gloves .

Another side effect is that the electrical-to- mechanical conversion can also be reversed: pull on the muscle, charge it, and then release it and you get an increase in capacitance of the already-charged capacitor, meaning the energy stored in it gets bigger. Discharge it into a battery or something, pull on the muscle again and repeat, and you’ve got a generator.

They’re kinda cool. Though not as cool as flux capacitors, obviously.