Question #63

The leyden jar was an early device created for storing charge. It was invented in 1745 by Peter van Musschenbroek. It was the first capacitor ever invented and was used in many early electricle experiments. The creation of this device pathed the way for further progresses in electricity and its storage.

The leyden jar worked by having an electrode connected to a foil inside of a jar. A conducting foil was rapped around the outside of the jar. Or the inside of the jar was partially filled with water. The water at first was used as a conducter, later they found that foil works better to collect the charge. The process was powered by an electrostatic generorator. The charge is stored in the glass of the leyden jar. The thinner the dielectric and the closer the plates were to each other increased the capacity at a certain voltage. It has later been found that the dielectrics were not neccesarry but just increased the capacity and prevented arcing between the plates.

The leyden jar was a break through in the storage of electricity. This discovery eventually led to the modern capacitor.