DIYbanter - View Single Post - Tossing a charged Capacitor in the Bathtub

TWayne

In ,
typed:
On Fri, 27 Jan 2012 14:25:25 -0500, Tony Miklos
wrote:

On 1/27/2012 11:53 AM, wrote:
Most people know that dropping a cord or appliance that
is plugged into an outlet into a bathtub filled with
water will electrocute the person in the tub. Yet, you
can drop a low voltage item such as a flashlight with
batteries in the tub and no one will be hurt. Even a
set up jumper cables connected to a car battery would
not likely do anything, or might just tingle a little
(never tried this, but I've handled plenty battery
cables while standing on wet soil in wet shoes and
never felt a thing).

Not that I'm planning to test this, but what would
happen if a large capacitor, charged with 200 volts or
more was tossed into a filled bathtub while someone was
in the tub? (By large capacitor, I dont mean the size,
but rather, I mean a large capacity, such as 500 MF or
one Farad or more....).

Well there is one hell of a difference between 500mf and
1 farad. Although 1 Farad 5 volt caps have become quite
small, one rated at 200 volts might bludgeon them to
death if it hits them in the head, charged or not.

I see no reason this would ever occur, but I'm just
curious.

[NOTE: This could be DC or AC]. DC capacitors are used
in electronics, while the AC type are motor start
capacitors.

Lots of AC rated caps are used in electronics.

I can only think of two uses.

1. Speaker filter caps (in crossovers)
2. Line caps which are usually very small, such as .05mf.
They go across the power line for voltage surges and
spikes.

What are the other uses?

If you're into analog engineering designs, there are enough to write entire
books on them. Suggest you go research them; not worth trying to make up a
list.

HTH,

Twayne`