How to Make Capacitors - Low Voltage Homemade/DIY Capacitors

A variety of info on how to make low voltage capacitors. I start with demonstrating making a temporary flat plate capacitor, then a spiral capacitor and then a salt water jar capacitor, sometimes called a salt water Leyden jar. Then I talk about capacitance and the unit farad and show the difference between microfarad, nanofarad and picofarad. Next, using the formula for a flat plate capacitor as a base I discuss the affect of capacitor area and distance between the plates on the capacitance. I also go over the dielectric constant, sometimes called the relative permittivity, and end with the formula for a cylindrical capacitor. All this is to help in designing capacitors. I then show how to use a meter, DMM, to measure capacitance. Thats followed by two sample variable capacitors and then a discussion about breakdown voltage, or dielectric strength.\r
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Watch the How to Make High Voltage Capacitors - Homemade/DIY video here:\r
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To make higher capacitance capacitors, for around 62 microfarads see my How to Make an Electrolytic Capacitor video here:\r
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And for even higher capacitance, 580 microfarads, see my How to Make a High Capacitance Electrolytic Capacitor video here:\r
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For details about my work with Barium Titanate capacitors, see:\r
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For examples of how Ive figured out the dielectric constant of various materials, see my webpage here:\r
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3D capacitor animation done using Blender 2.63.\r
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To follow me on Twitter:\r
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