[dBe]

http://audiophilereview.com/amps/the-great-capacitor-mystery.html

Any answers?

Dave

[rollo]

  Cannot be, snake oil, lies, nonsense. HA !!! Love it. A very interesting experiment which proves we still have a lot to learn.


charles

[Peter J]

http://audiophilereview.com/amps/the-great-capacitor-mystery.html

Any answers?

Dave

If it were car sales related, it'd be considered PFM. 

[HAL]

What would be a fun idea to try is to use two of the setups in the second picture and make sheets of different dielectrics.   Use the capacitor formed to be the output coupling device in a low voltage device like a DAC and listen to the results.  Then change the dielectric to different materials.  The dielectric material width would need to change to try and keep the same capacitance value as the dielectric constant of the material changes.

That would be a fun experiment!   

[JohnR]

You can't be serious... Just think about it: what happens when you move your ear further away from a speaker? Does the sound go "missing"?

[HAL]

If you read my experiment carefully it is about trials with different capacitor dielectrics using a similar setup.  It is not about moving the plates.

[JohnR]

Sorry, I was referring to the original post.

[sts9fan]

What exactly is great about it ?

[Triode Pete]

You can't be serious... Just think about it: what happens when you move your ear further away from a speaker? Does the sound go "missing"?

A tree falls in the forest... Question- Does it make a sound?

[TONEPUB]

I guess I'm curious as to what this article brought to light...

[HAL]

Energy storage in the electric field between the two plates of the capacitor. 

It is measured in volts/meter.   This means the E field drops as the two plates are moved in space from each other.   The electroscope does not detect the level as it drops to very low levels, even though the total energy storage does not change.  That is why the two plates when brought back together produce the spark again.   

This would even work in a pure vacuum.  The unknown quantity is what is storing the electric field energy.  That is what the teacher is explaining that is still TBD.     

[JohnR]

The unknown quantity is what is storing the electric field energy.

It's an electrostatic field...

[HAL]

Yes.  And mathmatically describable.

The part that the teacher is ending with, is the electrostatic field a wave, particle or virtual particle?  Since it can happen in a vacuum, there are no particles, so it appears to be a wave.  It can also be described as a disturbance in an electron field as a photon.   He is alluding to the underlying process of the electric field.   Then you get into quantum physics.

A cool way to get young minds thinking about the physics of electric fields and energy storage.

Another fun thing to think about is since a capacitor does not totally contain the electromagnetic field between it's plates and there is leakage, how does that interact with it's local environment and cause changes to the circuit and sound?  Same goes for cables in the environment. 

Some of the new circuit modeling systems let you take the component E-M fields into account and help with layout.  Would be interesting to visualize that capability.   

[Danny Richie]

The way the article relates to audio is summed up in the end.

Regardless of what the answer is, there's still a lesson to be learned here: Possibly it's that there are things out there that really exist and that we can really use even if we don't fully understand them. Possibly it's that there are things that we can measure that we don't understand. Possibly it's the opposite - that there are things that, because we don't understand them, we don't know how to properly measure. Possibly it's something else, entirely. What do you think?

There are tons of things that we know make clear and repeatable audible differences. Yet, we often have a hard time measuring those things. I can think of lots of examples.

[dBe]

If it were car sales related, it'd be considered PFM. 

So true.

Dave

[dBe]

You can't be serious... Just think about it: what happens when you move your ear further away from a speaker? Does the sound go "missing"?

John, the article is about energy storage, not energy radiation - two separate subjects.

Dave

[dBe]

What exactly is great about it ?

It explores an electrical/physical phenomena that has baffled physicists for years.

It is an intellectual exercise, that's all.

Dave

[dBe]

A tree falls in the forest... Question- Does it make a sound?

This is the sound of one hand clapping!

Dave

[dBe]

I guess I'm curious as to what this article brought to light...

That we aren't as smart as we think we are.

Dave

[dBe]

Energy storage in the electric field between the two plates of the capacitor. 

It is measured in volts/meter.   This means the E field drops as the two plates are moved in space from each other.   The electroscope does not detect the level as it drops to very low levels, even though the total energy storage does not change.  That is why the two plates when brought back together produce the spark again.   

This would even work in a pure vacuum.  The unknown quantity is what is storing the electric field energy.  That is what the teacher is explaining that is still TBD.     

Yup.  A known condition and method.

Dave