1. What is a switch in a circuit? How does a switch work?
2. Draw the circuit diagram for charging a capacitor. Draw the circuit diagram for discharging a capacitor. (Hint: these are in the readings.) Can you draw a single circuit diagram for both charging and discharging using a switch?
3. What is a capacitor? How does a capacitor “charge”? How does a capacitor “discharge”?

Your team was able to shut down the hawkion accelerator before it could blow itself up, and possibly take Lakeview with it. But the beam dump that absorbed the hawkions is now highly radioactive. You need to put shielding around it before it irradiates everyone at the lab, but no one can go near it.

Solomon Tobb, the ingenious intern, suggests the project I.A.N. could be the answer. He explains that I.A.N. stands for Intelligent Artificial eNtity: a robot. I.A.N.'s systems should withstand the radiation long enough to put the shielding in place, but unfortunately, you used both his primary and backup batteries for emergency power to the accelerator so I.A.N. is completely shut down.

Melissa Lewis, the accelerator director, mentions that in a training video she saw back in the 80's called “Short Circuit 2,” a model like I.A.N. was brought back to life using a defibrillator.

There's no defibrillator at FTOE, but using your knowledge of electromagnetism, you know you can create a makeshift piece of equipment to be able to restart I.A.N. You run to the laboratory stock room, and manage to find several sheets of aluminum, various paper sheets, some electrical tape and wires, and a pair of all-purpose scissors.

The paper sheets are 0.5 m wide, 2 m in length, and vary in thickness (2 mm, 1 mm, 500 μm, 50 μm, 1 μm, 0.5 μm). The aluminum sheets are 0.80 m in length, 0.5 m wide, and 0.3 mm in thickness. The stock room also has a high voltage power supply of 30 kV. Your device must be able to deliver a rapid jolt of 360 J to I.A.N. in order to restart him. Can you put something together to get him working and save the day?

1. Explain why you would want to use a capacitor for a defibrillator? Why would you not just connect the paddles to a battery?
2. Explain why you would add a resistor to charging/discharging capacitor circuit.
3. How do defibrillators work in real life? Would this actually work as a defibrillator? (Evaluate the model!)
4. How does a dielectric work? Should dielectrics be insulators or conductors? Why?
5. What is the the difference is between a capacitor that is “initially connected” versus one that has been hooked up for “a long time”?