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The Flux Capacitor

What is it?. In the movie Back to the Future, the flux capacitor was a fictional component in Doctor Emmett Brown's (Doc's) time-traveling De Lorean.Doc vaguely states the flux capacitor is what makes time travel possible.". Not Convinced?. The flux capacitor is a storage device capable of safely

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The Flux Capacitor

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    1. The Flux Capacitor Pulling Facts From Fiction

    2. What is it? In the movie Back to the Future, the flux capacitor was a fictional component in Doctor Emmett Brown’s (Doc’s) time-traveling De Lorean. Doc vaguely states the flux capacitor is “what makes time travel possible.”

    3. Not Convinced? The flux capacitor is a storage device capable of safely and efficiently containing extreme amounts of energy.

    4. Reasoning Dr. Brown quotes needing 1.21 ‘jigawatts’ of power (1,210,000,000 watts). Although the various components of the time traveling car broke down, the flux capacitor never did. The energy generation elements varied throughout the movies, but the flux capacitor remained a constant.

    5. More Reasoning It seems to make sense, based on the words used in the title of device itself. A capacitor is an energy storage element. An inductor is also an energy storage element, which stores energy as flux (magnetic field).

    6. The Doctor Himself Doc also says the following,”…if we can somehow...*harness* this lighting…*channel* it… into the flux capacitor…it just might work. Next Saturday night, we’re sending you back to the future!”—Dr Emmett Brown Harness = store. Lightning = Energy. This leads me to my conclusion, the flux capacitor must store energy.

    7. Energy Storage Storing energy, that’s what capacitors and inductors do best!

    8. Capacitor A capacitor stores energy as a separation of charge. Many students might remember them fondly from physics. Students might also have great memories from the introductory class on electrical networks.

    9. Inductor The energy stored by an inductor is equal to the amount of work required to establish the magnetic field. The energy is stored in the magnetic flux-filled gap.

    10. The Tank Circuit The tank circuit uses the relationship between the capacitor and inductor. As time passes, the voltage across the capacitor changes 90 degrees out of phase from the current through the inductor.

    11. Comparison This situation is similar to a pendulum. Air resistance causes the pendulum to eventually come to rest, otherwise it could sway perpetually.

    12. One Problem There’s a problem, and it’s not a small one: In the ideal model resistance is ignored, however in reality even the smallest resistance creates a dampening effect on the stored energy. This means the current and charges continuously ‘drain’ out of the tank. This effect increases in severity as the amount of stored energy is increased.

    13. The Solution: Superconductors A superconductor is a substance that has effectively zero resistance. An electrical current flowing in a loop of superconducting wire can persist indefinitely with no power source.

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