Prof. Grail disconnects her newly charged capacitor from the power plant (see JiT#2), and prepares to make use of the stored energy. When she throws the switch, the capacitor will be connected to a rail gun (A rail gun can be thought of simply as a large circuit with a resistor connected to a charged capacitor (for a simplified picture, see http://science.howstuffworks.com/rail-gun1.htm). In simplest terms, this is an RC circuit that uses the Lorentz force to throw a projectile (in this case a steel cube of mass 1.5 kilograms). If the resistance is 1.75 micro-ohms, and the capacitor was fully charged, what current flows the instant the switch is thrown? Does the current remain constant, or does it change?
the capacitor is fully charged . hence all the voltage across the capacitor appears across the resistor and hence current flows through the resistor which is given using ohm's law as
i = V/R where V = potential difference across the plates of the capacitor , R = resistance of the resistor , i = current through the resistor.
The current change with time because as the capacitor discharge , the potential difference across its plates change. this change the current flowing in the circuit.
Prof. Grail disconnects her newly charged capacitor from the power plant (see JiT#2), and prepares to...
Prof. Grail disconnects her newly charged capacitor from the power plant (see JiT#2), and prepares to make use of the stored energy. When she throws the switch, the capacitor will be connected to a rail gun (A rail gun can be thought of simply as a large circuit with a resistor connected to a charged capacitor (for a simplified picture, see http://science.howstuffworks.com/rail-gun1.htm). In simplest terms, this is an RC circuit that uses the Lorentz force to throw a projectile (in...