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Re: Distilled water as a dielectric?

Original poster: "Jim Lux" <jimlux@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>


----- Original Message -----
From: "Tesla list" <tesla@xxxxxxxxxx>
To: <tesla@xxxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Tuesday, May 31, 2005 6:23 PM
Subject: RE: Distilled water as a dielectric?


> Original poster: "Lau, Gary" <gary.lau@xxxxxx>
>
> I did a little Googling prior to sending my previous response, and found
> this link, http://skua.gps.caltech.edu/hermann/ice.htm, which states
> that "Ice Ih has an unusual high static dielectric constant (96.6 at 0 C
> compared to 88 for liquid water)."  I'm not sure if "static dielectric
> constant" is the same as we're talking about.

Nope.. that's the apparent epsilon in a DC capacitor, mostly due to the
polarization of the water.  You'd want the HF dielectric constant, given as
3.2 in the attached table II for the page you referenced.  3.2 corresponds
with the given propagation speed of 170 m/usec (viz 299.8 m/usec in vacuum)


 While I was under the
> impression that ice is a good insulator, the link also talks about
> protons in ice having a very high mobility, suggesting (I think) that
> it's not that good of an insulator.  OK, I'm out of my league here...
>
> Regards, Gary Lau
> MA, USA
>
>
>  > Original poster: Jerry Chamkis <jchamkis@xxxxxxx>
>  >
>  > As an aside (but not offered as a practical solution) Tesla patented
> an Ice
>  > Capacitor.  If my faded memory serves, it had a surprisingly high
> dielectric
>  > constant-  as in the 3 - 4  range??
>  >
>  > Should be good for SOME kind of mischief!
>  >
>  > On Tuesday 31 May 2005 10:10 am, Tesla list wrote:
>  >  > Original poster: "Lau, Gary" <gary.lau@xxxxxx>
>  >  >
>  >  > Hi Greg:
>  >  >
>  >  > There's a reason one can't find distilled water caps in parts
>  >  > catalogs.  They require water purity way beyond what is normally
>  >  > achievable, and even then, their use is limited to very narrow duty
> cycles
>  >  > and pulse widths.  They won't work in our application - sorry.
>  >
>  > Cheers-
>  > --
>  > Jerry Chamkis
>  > jchamkis@xxxxxxx
>  >
>
>