this post was submitted on 25 Jun 2025
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xkcd #3106: Farads (imgs.xkcd.com)
submitted 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago) by xkcdbot@lemmy.world to c/xkcd@lemmy.world
 

xkcd #3106: Farads

Title text:

'This HAZMAT container contains radioactive material with activity of one becquerel.' 'So, like, a single banana slice?'

Transcript:

[Cueball holds a stick while talking with Megan and White Hat.]
Cueball: This stick is one meter long.
Megan: Cool.
White Hat: That's a nice stick.

[Cueball holds a smallish rock.]
Cueball: This rock weighs one pound.
Megan: I'd believe it.
White Hat: Looks like a normal rock.

[Cueball holds a small battery.]
Cueball: This battery is one volt.
Megan: Seems fine.
White Hat: Might need a recharge.

[Cueball holds a capacitor while Megan and White Hat panic.]
Cueball: This capacitor is one farad.
Megan: Aaaaa! Be careful!!
White Hat: Put it down!!

Source: https://xkcd.com/3106/

explainxkcd for #3106

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[–] ricecake@sh.itjust.works 40 points 1 week ago (20 children)

Depends on the voltage it's charged with, but household current would give it more energy than a shotgun has.

Realistically one would not do that unless you were dealing with something industrial. You would use them otherwise for things like dampening lower voltage systems that need a lot of current.

Closer to the danger level of someone holding two exposed wires plugged into the wall.

[–] bizarroland@fedia.io 12 points 1 week ago (16 children)

Household current pumped through a full bridge rectifier, that is.

Capacitors don't seem to do very much with AC Other than attenuate it a bit

[–] ByteJunk@lemmy.world 2 points 1 week ago (5 children)

AC units have beefy capacitors, right? Do you know in what range, for comparison?

[–] clif@lemmy.world 3 points 1 week ago

If by AC you mean air conditioner, I just replaced mine with a 50+5uF dual cap @ 370/440 VAC

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