this post was submitted on 25 Mar 2025
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[–] meyotch@slrpnk.net 6 points 4 weeks ago (1 children)

Such a capacitor is used to fine tune antenna performance, so it is an inherent part of that particular subsystem. Anyone who has disassembled an older radio has probably run across one of these rotary air gapped type before.

Inductors use a coil to store energy whereas capacitors use plates separated by a dielectric material, which is air in this case.

[–] Madagaskar_sky@lemmy.world 2 points 3 weeks ago (1 children)

Ah, thank you for your explanation. Though in my comment I failed to mention that such a turn style would impede the flow of people going through it, like an inductor. Is my understanding correct?

[–] meyotch@slrpnk.net 2 points 3 weeks ago

Capacitors store energy up to their capacity, not being snarky with the tautological statement, that’s what they do. So yes they can slow or modulate electron flow. The simplest pulsing circuit you can make uses a capacitor.

My own personal projects these days include work with super-capacitors to make battery-free solar projects.

This stack exchange has a good discussion that relates here:

https://electronics.stackexchange.com/questions/380104/how-to-pulse-an-led-for-a-second-with-just-a-single-switch-resistors-and-capaci