In a capacitor plate stack, say you have 10 plates stacked, you'll typically have the positive charge say at the top, and negative at the bottom. That means that the top plate is positive charge on top and negative on bottom; the next plate is therefore positive on top, negative on bottom; the next plate is therefore positive on top, negative on bottom, ... Etc. That's how charge orients itself in a capacitor stack.
Also, electricity takes the shortest path. If you connect all your wires down one edge of a plate stack, electricity would take the shortest path thru the wire. If you connect a wire to one side of a plate, and another wire to the other, the electricity will travel from wire to wire thru the plate, but it will take the shortest path, and won't fill the plate with energy.
You have to make the charge cover the whole space. You do that by the width of your electromagnetic field, but only if the field is in motion or changing. Because it is the change of motion thru the field which induces your charged area. Pulsing a DC energy, or alternating polarities in a current will induce a changing movement of energy able to induce a charged surface. You can't induce a system with a non-moving current or field; it has to be vibrating; changing; dynamic.
That's why a static field makes things a lot easier. A static medium too. If you drill out a plate stack and run a bolt thru it, and put washers in for spacers, and tighten nuts on the ends, they all get a good contact. Connect pos and neg to the ends of the bolt. Drop it in salt water. You'll see bubbles all around the area of the plates in that case even tho electricity takes the shortest path because the salt water conducts that charge, and when they get charged near the center, the current will start moving toward the edges fighting to go around each other to take the shortest path. That is an example of using a static medium because taking the straightest path will build up a resistance to that straight path; and energy will seek the straightest path of the least resistance.
If you have a large enough electromagnet with a wide field and you pulse it on and off or alternate it positive negative (reversing or alternating the field), then capacitor plates around the electromagnet will become induced in the area affected by the field.
The Tesla generator for example (seen on the "Tesla Power" article on the Free Energy/Tesla page) uses an iron core which transfers the north pole of the electromagnet around the curve of the iron ring to the plate, which energizes the plate with that electromagnetic field.
Now if you use the magneto-electrostatic energy of the spark, it will fill up the capacitor plates easily. Otherwise you're limited to a straight path of least resistance and having to use induced fields in order to charge a homemade capacitor.
Some capacitors are rolled, coating both sides of a long sheet of foil with vegetable oil to insulate, and clipping a positive lead to one end of foil, and rolling it up, and clipping the negative lead to the middle so electricity takes the shortest path. So there will be a lead in the middle, and a lead on the edge of a rolled capacitor.
That is the similar concept with an electromagnetic coil. An electromagnetic coil is a wire that is wound around and around, and back and forth, on top of each other, so that electricity will have to travel the direct path through the whole length of the wire, and thus is where the entire field of the electromagnet is formed -- through the straightest path.
You CAN layer individual sheets of foil in a box, insulated with vegetable oil. You'll have connections on the left and right sides. Start with the top sheet, right side. Then connect the left side to the sheet directly underneath, sheet 2. Then connect the right side of sheet 2 to sheet 3. Connect the left side of sheet 3 to sheet 4. Connect right side of sheet 4 to sheet 5. Connect left side of 5 to 6. Connect right side of 6 to 7, etc. The volts will raise tremendously.
However using the spark gap changes everything! Because of the spark gap in the system, all the spaces will be filled and energized. Whereas a single bare wire loop may be charged from a high volt power source; a wide plate, or bare metal surface area is charged from the spark in the system. If the spark is obtained from an electromagnetic collapse, then the energy of that spark will want to expand throughout the entire surface areas of charged systems because it is an energy of a collapsed energy-space, and will attempt to find equilibrium by expanding through conductive areas. A magneto-electrostatic capacitor plate stack will resonate very easily over entire surface areas. It does not depend upon a high voltage to charge a plate to induce another plate di-electrically like a doorknob capacitor. You can use a low amp source at high volts to do the same job so much easier.
Take a look at the circuit diagrams on the Tesla Engineering Physics page, in the section marked "A Brain Teaser." Note the circuit diagrams. Sometimes a capacitor is more easily charged either in-line, or in parallel. In parallel, the shortest path is qualified as the capacitor begins to energize as the polarities draw toward each other, as unlike charges and unlike polarity will attract electromagnetically. Otherwise, some capacitors will act as resistors until there is sufficient charge to conduct a current inductively through the charge build-up.
(+) ---------------------- (-)
|
spark gap Note: the difference of polarity is attractive in a spark gap.
|
(-) ---------------------- (+)
Using the magnetic collapse of a coil to induce a charge plate is the essence of negative energy generation (vacuum energy, in every sense of the word, like a vacuum cleaner charging a plate; negative pressure).
A spark will collapse a buildup of energy over a di-electric surface (lightning will charge the ground surface area, too). Also a spark will expand energy through a di-electric surface area. Equivalent to that, a large collapsing electromagnetic field will draw the vaccum charge of a di-electric surface area.
Hint: The diagram above can be used for capacitance OR energizing a spark gap.
(+) ----------------------------- (-)
( - ) ---------------------------- ( + )
(+) ----------------------------- (-)
(-) ------------------------------ (+)
But, for a capacitor, they are connected to each layer underneath like this:
(+) > ---------------------------------
--------------------------------- <
> ---------------------------------
--------------------------------- <
( - )
... connected back and forth. Start with positive and end with negative.
Electricity takes the shortest path ... of the least resistance.
Note: a capacitor can use alternating plate stacks each connected to their individual terminals, similar to how the Central Accumulator looks on the Construction blog page. But there's a trick to that.
Capacitors where the positive plates are not physically connected to the negative plates will work better for AC applications. A foil capacitor in vegetable oil in this configuration will be better suited for AC current and will develop extreme high volts (due to the thin foil and oil insulative coating, and having more plates in less area):
|------------------ |
| -----------------|
|------------------ |
| -----------------|
(+) (-)
Sometimes, the capacitor is very similar to a battery.
Using a good electrolyte in a capacitor is important. You want it to be resistant, but be able to conduct the electric field between plates to build up resonance.
Also, some of you like to use neon bulb AC transformers for powering Tesla coils. But that creates a hot positive energy. Using colder energy from magnetic collapse in AC style (using negative energy) will preserve your capacitors built from thin material.
Negative energy is a lot different than positive. Negative energy won't dissipate over long areas. Transmission through power lines, negative energy is not a big fluffy field, but a thin energy, and the universe sees that it is moving, and it adds energy to it as it goes along (you could say it draws a quantum vacuum charge that keeps pumping up the volts and amps), so at the end of a transmission line using negative energy, there will be a lot more energy! The old telegraph wires used a copper plate in the ground (earth battery) to power the system. The start of the signal was for example 6 volts, but at the end of the wire, it was very high voltage. The telegraph operator had to touch only the plastic/rubber key, and NOT the metal conductive parts. Thank you master D.J. for this bit of info.
Positive energy along the power lines dissipate over distance. . . . . Negative energy is so small that it builds up and up, not dissipating but intensifying.
Tesla had tried to introduce this understanding to the world, in preparation for our new discoveries of ancient advanced technology, like what's been kept very quiet about Antarctica. The T.V. show "Stargate SG-1" gets into the scenario of "what if" we discovery new technology that could be of benefit to the world, but is really taken away and hidden? The future could be very interesting. The shortest path of least resistance is a universal philosophy of the ordering and action of energy ultimately unified as universal consciousness; a universal truth of life, basically.