Foo - What exactly IS the juice inside a capacitor?

For fun, about 1 year ago, I crushed a capacitor off a junked circuit board in a vise. There was a small amount of some type of juice or oil that came out.

Then, looking inside my mom's ATX power supply, I found the capacitor had burst. I found brown fluid inside the power supply, which I assumed to be from capacitor.

What is this stuff? And, what is the purpose? I thought a capacitor was two plates of conductive material with a dielectric between, creating the electric field. What purpose would fluid have?

For fun, about 1 year ago, I crushed a capacitor off a junked circuit board in a vise. There was a small amount of some type of juice or oil that came out.

Then, looking inside my mom's ATX power supply, I found the capacitor had burst. I found brown fluid inside the power supply, which I assumed to be from capacitor.

What is this stuff? And, what is the purpose? I thought a capacitor was two plates of conductive material with a dielectric between, creating the electric field. What purpose would fluid have?
combination heat sink and dielectric fluid?

Really old capacitors were mostly foil and wax paper, but they've long since moved from paper to fluid dielectrics. Be careful with the old ones, the brown goop is likely to have PCBs and dioxins in it. Same with fluorescent light ballasts, they're filled with toxic brown goop, too.

Right, it's the dielectric fluid...basically an insulator that interferes with the electric field, which actually means the capacitor can store more energy.

Oh, and mind Stacey's warning about toxic brown goops. I'm not sure if there is a good way to determine if a certain capacitor is safe or not, unless it happens to be RoHS certified...but I'm not even sure what all that covers.

Oil?

Right, it's the dielectric fluid...basically an insulator that interferes with the electric field, which actually means the capacitor can store more energy.

Oh, and mind Stacey's warning about toxic brown goops. I'm not sure if there is a good way to determine if a certain capacitor is safe or not, unless it happens to be RoHS certified...but I'm not even sure what all that covers.
What's Stacey got to do with it???

:eek: ;)

What's Stacey got to do with it???

:eek: ;)
Toxic Brown Goop and Stacey have always been synonymous.:D Rats love toxic brown goop,it gives them turtles to teach ninja moves to.

Dunno what it is, but it tastes awful.;)

Toxic Brown Goop and Stacey have always been synonymous.:D Rats love toxic brown goop,it gives them turtles to teach ninja moves to.
Ba da ching!

Ba da ching!
I knew that you would take that in the spirit that it was intended!:D I like the newer, freer, red starred Stacey!

...it tastes awful...
We need an opinion from Mirona.

I knew that you would take that in the spirit that it was intended!:D I like the newer, freer, red starred Stacey!

It matches her pretty little beady red eyes!

It matches her pretty little beady red eyes!
I like your animated sig!
:D

It depends on the capacitor. The large capacitor in the power supply is an Electrolytic capacitor with electrolyte inside. Most of the smaller capacitors have the dielectric fluid. A new chemical made out of vegetable oil is soon to be used.

Vegetable or mineral origin does not make much difference to the toxicity, the additives and exact structure of the oil moecules are what matter, and those are determined by the properties required of the final material. You can drink many pure mineral base stocks, actually, without more harm than some digestive upset.

This thread so needs to be authenticated by Mirona.:D