I enjoyed dumping my 330J 170V capacitor bank into the pencil-eraser-sized electrolytics from old computer motherboards. They went off like firecrackers. That was a lot of fun.
I used to do this all the time. Guess I need to do it again!! Fun after work today!
That proves, not all capacitors are not explosion proof..
Magic smoke! That's where it comes from!
Ok, this just upsets me now. I have sent in a set of quality projects TWICE now and have watched it get pushed aside for crap like this. Not saying I don't like to watch capacitors blow up, but thats not what I come to this site for.
also: magic smoke can no longer hide!
All hail the magic smoke! You know, you'll never get it back in there now. First discovered magic smoke plugging in a floppy drive incorrectly on my apple //. Heard a loud BANG… and GAWD what a smell!
More fun was flipping off the teachers switch to all the lab desks in the EE lab, then loading a couple of the outlets with the Styrene caps (They go BOOM!) so when the TA comes in they get a nice big BANG from them flipping the switch.
That and being bored and charging all the caps in the drawer for the next guy…. reach in and OW!
Wow… I thought I was the only one who said that electronics ran on magic smoke. "Don't let the smoke out". Freakin weird. Did that come from somewhere or did we all just come up with the same idea?
No, DudeGuy, it's just you.
Well, I sent HaD links to my last two… ?
I can still remember the smell….
Well! everyone needs to have some fun, so stop moaning!
The video may teach you that when movie characters say "reverse the polarity", it isn't always a good idea to do so.
Wow, hacking old ADB compatible tablets (e.g., Wacom) back to life with an ADB/USB bridge and making overpriced Cintiq (Wacom again) devices out of hacked parts. Good stuff.
Anyway, give us the links to your work. Hopefully HaD won't block them.
@all complaining about sending in hacks that didn't make it… THANKS!
While there is plenty coming in, I just wanted to share this video and be goofy, I'm also going back and finding cool stuff that got lost in the shuffle.
We did this once at a company I used to work for. We were testing non-explosive propellants for ammunition (ie – not gun powder, or volatile propellants). Our goal was to build a weapon that could travel on commercial airlines (for the government of coarse) without explosive hazards. When you put a small electrolytic to 120VAC mains, it was like a fire cracker. HAHA Bigger one just mostly fizzled. Darn you 22,000uF!!!
I know it says I can't learn anything from this video, but I am going to try.
Why would reversing the polarity on a capacitor make it blow up? That is something I have never understood (I only have a basic two-plate physics model for capacitors, which have no bias).
Also, if you very slowly charge a capacitor up beyond its limit, does it also explode; does it cause dielectric breakdown or something?
Tantalums are more interesting when they pop. Usually a slug of tantalum goes flying, red hot tantalum, that is.
Well, one thing you can learn is if you have maybe a high voltage project with a bank of large capacitors, it's probably a good idea to put some shielding between the user and the electronics.
@Will, thanks for the links. I'm looking now.
@Caleb, Thanks for picking up on the issue of submissions not getting posted. Often the best stuff is in hidden in the rough. Knowing how to recognize it is the key.
Thanks but I haven't resolved it. You see, we get TONS of emails and none of us hold regular office hours. Stuff simply gets forgotten/claimed by someone who ends up not writing it/ etc. If your project doesn't get plopped onto the site soon, hit us again and again until someone gives you a reason.
Hmm, the axial caps seem to blow much more vigorously than the radials. Are radials safer?
Why would reversing the polarity on a capacitor make it blow up?
What do you mean exactly by "charge a cap up beyond its limit"? When you apply a voltage to a cap it charges to that voltage at a rate based on the time constant. Really the only way you can "overcharge" a cap is by applying a voltage that is significantly higher than it's rated voltage. That's really easy to avoid – just get a cap with a high enough voltage rating for the voltage you are applying. Generally what happens if you apply too high of a voltage is chemical reactions can occur that eat away the plates and punch holes in the dialectric, which causes a short and high current/power.
So wasting capacitors and filling landfills with their toxic residues is a hack?
Hey, I've got a hack too: how about dumping mercury into a gutter? That's hilarious too, the fish all go belly up!
And if seeing things blow up makes your day, just look for Semtex or RDX on YouTube. Or get a life.
Who needs capacitors anyways when you can have an arduino?
"Why would reversing the polarity on a capacitor make it blow up?" It literally says this right on the page above the video on the teravolt website.
If nothing else, at least this shows that the venting slits on top of capacitors do work.
I was thinking the same thing, anyone with half a brain could tell you this isn't something very suitable for the outdoors.
Here at hackaday we save electronics from going to the landfill and then we even the pollution by blowing off smoke from capacitors.
also, they produce confetti when they go pop!
Almost went to jail doing this one time. Found out it's illegal to have "fireworks" in Georgia (back then). Hard a heck of a time convincing the cops that those little firework looking, and certainly sounding, things were NOT actually fireworks!!
Then later, some kid we worked with found out that by inserting the 10uF size caps into a small plastic tube that some parts came in, you could create a "capacitor cannon"!! Loved it! Wernt through lots of caps though, hard a heck of time getting him to stop wasting parts!
Man I almost reached for my safety glasses just watching this video. Great vid.
Google it. if you never seen it its a grate watch.
Am I the only one who feels nervous when they see that much magic smoke even out of context?
that smoke can be very toxic . stop that one.