Need some resources on capacitors

Ok, so I'm done with my physics courses and have been having crazy ideas for some time. One of em involves capacitors...but we didn't do all that much. We basically just studied spheres and volage equalization as well as C = e0A/d, Q=CV, just the real basics. I'm essentially trying to get a 1 coulomb charge on a circular plate and need to find efficient and controllable means of doing so. I can get pretty highly rated capacitors that at their peak voltage get ~1.6 C of charge...but then I need to know how to calculate the charge flow and equalization when I hook it up to my plates. Any resources you can point me to would be greatly appreciated.

SEX is like math. Add the bed, subtract the clothes, divide the legs, and hope you dont multiply<P ID="edit"><FONT SIZE=-1><EM>Edited by flamethrower205 on 05/15/04 00:59 AM.</EM></FONT></P>

Wonderful, we didn't even touch that lol. Looks like I gotta lot of reading to do.

SEX is like math. Add the bed, subtract the clothes, divide the legs, and hope you dont multiply

You want to make your own capacitor, or hook up a capacitor to these plates of yours? What's the point of this?

Learning how capacitors work and respond will take a lot of time and math that you may not be familiar with, from LaPlace and Fourier Transforms, phasors, differential equations, or whatever. If you give me more info on exactly what you want to do, I can probably help you out some more.

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<font color=blue> "Trying is the first step towards failure." </font color=blue>

Playing with capacitors is okay. Just make sure they aren't charged to too high a voltage.

One of my professors would say that in college he and his chums would charge capacitors to a decent level (not sure the value, but I think less than 100 volts) and leave them sitting around waiting for someone to pick up and get shocked.

When I was building a small power supply it used a capacitor that charged to about 38 V, and you could touch both sides and nothing would happen. I think 200+ volts can kill you if it crosses you right, but I've had some accidents with house wiring and gotten shocked by the 110 V a few times. No perma..a,kljl;'ao[]hsld..nent damage done.

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<font color=blue> "Trying is the first step towards failure." </font color=blue>

Voltage doesn't really matter... it's the current that'll kill you. Static discharges are something like 100000 volts IIRC.

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