Re: Flash & RC circuits

[Richard Bowman <rbowman@BRIDGEWATER.EDU>]

Well, this is what happens when a scientist does not do observations
before drawing conclusions. (I had not actually looked at my unit before
sending my post yesterday!) Thanks to those who actually saw the circuit
in the disposable flash units and know that the voltage is "stepped up" to
approximately 300 V.

I can answer the question from Ludwik Kowalski:

> Medical people, if my memory can be trusted, dose
> capacitors in Joules of stored energy. So many Joules -->
> small effect and so many --> big effect. Does somebody
> know the actual values for typical medical (electric
> shocks) effects?

I checked with my wife who is a critical care nurse and deals with
electric shock to defibrillate the heart. She says depending upon what
they are trying to do/undo, they use anywhere from 50 to 360 J with the
value usually being above 100 J.

Richard
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Dr. Richard L. Bowman
Chair, Dept. of Physics                  e-mail:  rbowman@bridgewater.edu
(and Dir. of Academic Computing)                     phone:  540-828-5441
Bridgewater College                                    FAX:  540-828-5479
Bridgewater, VA  22812               http://www.bridgewater.edu/~rbowman/
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