A practical Treatise on Wireless Telegraphy and Telephony, giving Complete and Detailed Explanations of the Theory and Practice of Modern Radio Apparatus and its Present Day Applications, together with a chapter on the possibilities of its Future Development
WIRELESS TELEGRAPHY
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Fixed condensers consist of a few sheets of tinfoil inter-
posed between sheets of paraffined paper or in some cases
mica. The condenser is inclosed in a suitable case, usually
a hollow molded block of insulating composition, and is
provided with suitable terminals to facilitate connection.
When a conductor is charged with electricity it has the
power of exerting an opposite charge in any adjacent con-
Fig. 81.—Rotary variable condenser.
ductors. The two halves of a condenser constitute ad-
jacent conductors, the separating medium in between being
called the dielectric. An alternating current will pass
through a condenser because the charge on the plates keeps
changing from negative to positive and back from positive
to negative again. A direct current will not pass through
a condenser.
These facts are utilized to considerable advantage in
the receptor of a wireless station. As has already been
explained, the high frequency oscillatory currents will not