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Posted by Sherman in Idaho [24.32.202.166] on Tuesday, February 26, 2013 at 00:48:12 :
In Reply to: Re: It's MOpar and MOtown posted by Dave [76.92.86.70] on Monday, February 25, 2013 at 23:27:29 :
Those were the same powers that be who decided that a capacitor is a condenser if it's used in an automotive ignition system, and sometimes in an a really old radio, but everywhere else it's a capacitor. Take apart a modern "condenser" and you'll find that metal cylinder is mostly empty space with a little capacitor soldered inside of it.
Likewise, a rotating machine that produces electricity is a generator no matter whether it generates AC or DC, unless it's in a vehicle, and then we call it an alternator if it generates AC and a generator if it generates DC. Grand Coulee Dam, however, has "generators" rather than "alternators" in it, even though they work on the same principle as an automotive "alternator".
Electronics is full of confusions like that. An inductor can be a "coil" or a "choke", depending vaguely and subjectively on how it's used and what the value of it is. A vacuum tube is a "valve" in England. A diode might be called a "rectifier" if it's somewhat slow and rated for somewhat high current, but again it's all vague and subjective. The only good thing about electronic nomenclature is that at least we don't have "English" and "metric" units. All the volts are the same, and all the amps are the same, no matter what country you're in.
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