Just because you have an arc over condition in a cap doesnt mean that the
cap is over charged.... A transient pulse of high voltage can easily pierce
thru a sheet of dielectric creating a path of lower voltage breakdown for an
arc to occour as long as the voltage spike is greater than the voltage
ability of the cap.... The Newmann machine uses a very large inductor
charging over a relatively long time and discharged over a relatively short
time. This leads to the discharge voltage being greater by the amount of
roughly the ratio of charge discharge time.... Inductive kickback its
called sometimes.... so 110 volts can easily lead to 1000 or 10000 or even
100000 volts depending on the charge discharge ratio.... also lets not
forget the charge discharge resistances that are involved.... You dont need
to over charge a cap.... I dont think you can really overcharge a cap...but
you can destroy one thru transient high voltage spikes or pulses.... with
out it being fully charged...
Terry B
-------------------------------------------------------
-------------------------------------------------------
http://home.dmv.com/~tbastian