Something I always wondered about......

Back in the early days of electronics, Capacitors were called
Condensers. Why was the word changed?

Yea, I know there is a part in a refrigeration unit called a condenser.
But does that have anything to do with this?

 

[John-Del]

On Tuesday, April 9, 2019 at 7:27:00 PM UTC-4, tub...@myshop.com wrote:

Back in the early days of electronics, Capacitors were called
Condensers. Why was the word changed?

Yea, I know there is a part in a refrigeration unit called a condenser.
But does that have anything to do with this?

From Wikipedia:

Early capacitors were known as condensers, a term that is still occasionally used today, particularly in high power applications, such as automotive systems. The term was first used for this purpose by Alessandro Volta in 1782, with reference to the device's ability to store a higher density of electric charge than was possible with an isolated conductor. The term became deprecated because of the ambiguous meaning of steam condenser, with capacitor becoming the recommended term from 1926.

 

[Allodoxaphobia]

On Tue, 09 Apr 2019 18:27:03 -0500, tubeguy@myshop.com wrote:

Back in the early days of electronics, Capacitors were called
Condensers. Why was the word changed?

I believe the Brits and their 'empire' still call'em condensers.
And, their batteries are "piles".

 

[Martin Gregorie]

On Fri, 12 Apr 2019 17:51:19 +0000, Allodoxaphobia wrote:

On Tue, 09 Apr 2019 18:27:03 -0500, tubeguy@myshop.com wrote:
Back in the early days of electronics, Capacitors were called
Condensers. Why was the word changed?

I believe the Brits and their 'empire' still call'em condensers.
And, their batteries are "piles".

Condensers, yes. Piles no - that's French.

Never confuse the French with the English - that pisses them both off.


--
Martin | martin at
Gregorie | gregorie dot org

 

On Friday, 12 April 2019 18:51:22 UTC+1, Allodoxaphobia wrote:

On Tue, 09 Apr 2019 18:27:03 -0500, tubeguy@myshop.com wrote:
Back in the early days of electronics, Capacitors were called
Condensers. Why was the word changed?

I believe the Brits and their 'empire' still call'em condensers.
And, their batteries are "piles".

both incorrect

 

[Mike Coon]

In article <q8qo6m$d1v$1@news.albasani.net>, martin@mydomain.invalid
says...

Never confuse the French with the English - that pisses them both off.

That's a contra-indication?

Mike.

 

[Michael Terrell]

On Tuesday, April 9, 2019 at 7:27:00 PM UTC-4, tub...@myshop.com wrote:

Back in the early days of electronics, Capacitors were called
Condensers. Why was the word changed?

Yea, I know there is a part in a refrigeration unit called a condenser.
But does that have anything to do with this?

They were first called 'Jars', AKA: Leyden Jars.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leyden_jar Each one was approximately 1nF for the common one pint physical size. Some early Physics and Radio books described circuits with the number of jars, in parallel.

 

"> Never confuse the French with the English - that pisses them >both off.

That's a contra-indication? "

Yeah, you know giving someone the finger ? They invented that. (so they say)

 

>"They were first called 'Jars', AKA: Leyden Jars."

Someone posed a question many years ago which I never really gave that much thought after the first few minutes. Shit happens.

If you took a charged capacitor, a Leyden jar job would be good, took it apart and mailed it to say, Taxifornia and reassembled it, would it still be charged ?

Back then for one I didn't know as much and for two I was not all that interested. But now I think that the glass would hold the charge and you could change the plates and the charge would still be there. However if you grab the jar wrong - that is have your finger and thumb make a connection between the inside and outside of the glass you would discharge it.

But then what of a huge capacitor that uses air for a dielectric ? Kinda blows the theory. With that, years ago I decided I am simply not all that interested in the question.