Those pesky Abbreviations!

[Galu]

I thought that mfd was used for all "condenser" values?

Here's a photo of a 1970s ELCAP electrolytic capacitor marked with MFD.

Short forms for micro farad include: MFD, mfd, MF, UF and μF.

 

[MarcelvdG]

Small capacitances were often measured in cm, meaning the self-capacitance of a sphere with a 1 cm radius in vacuum (approximately 1.11265 pF).

 

[jan.didden]

I thought that mfd was used for all "condenser" values

e.g. 0.001 mfd, 10 mfd, 1000 mfd and even (I guess) 10,000 mfd ?

It is likely that the m changed to u to avoid confusion with milli. Millifarad isn't used a lot, but usual values for inductance can be uH or mH; same issue.

I guess the fd changed to F to be consistent with A, V, H, Ohm, Hz etc. All initials of the name-giver and thus capitalized (except as noted above). I don't know when that was introduced, maybe when the introduced the SI system?

Jan

 

[Caramello]

I grew up buying stuff from the original (green) Maplin catalogs where it was all "capacitor" and μF nF pF , it was only fairly recently that I became aware of there only being the word "condenser" and the values being mfd

 

[Caramello]

As already mentioned, still called condenser mics in English, and cars still used "condensers" on the CB (contact breaker) and coil right up until electronic units replaced the CB

 

[Caramello]

Small capacitances were often measured in cm, meaning the self-capacitance of a sphere with a 1 cm radius in vacuum (approximately 1.11265 pF).

Not heard of that before

 

[Caramello]

Here's a photo of a 1970s ELCAP electrolytic capacitor marked with MFD.

I vaguely remember them coming like that from the original Maplin

 

[MarcelvdG]

I have a French radio from the 1950's that has some capacitors of 10 000 cm. Expressing capacitance in cm was already very old-fashioned back then. It was quite common in the 1920's and 1930's.

 

[mbrennwa]

"Recommended names and symbols for quantities are listed in many standard references ... However, symbols for quantities are recommendations (in contrast to symbols for units, for which the use of the correct form is mandatory). In certain circumstances authors may wish to use a symbol of their own choice for a quantity, for example to avoid a conflict arising from the use of the same symbol for two different quantities. In such cases, the meaning of the symbol must be clearly stated. However, neither the name of a quantity, nor the symbol used to denote it, should imply any particular choice of unit."

EXACTLY my point.

What is your point? I don't get it.

Since this thread has taken a different direction, I am out of here. If you want to continue the discussion send me a PM.

 

[jean-paul]

Thank the electrons that we use µF or microfarad instead of MFD (which I always read as "manufactured"). Even worse is the stupid habit of MMFD. Using "millifarad" while already using "mfd" for "microfarad" did not make it better either

Here are two capacitors out of a 1928 Zenith model 39A.

A 1 MFD condenser from the radio, and the main capacitor filter block out of the power supply.

(Photo courtesy of azenithnut over on Antique Radio)

First time that I see both names being used in 1 device. Fascinating isn't it?

 

[Galu]

EXACTLY my point.

What is your point? I don't get it.

My point is that YOU WERE CORRECT!

 

[Cal Weldon]

That's not what I meant.
One volt is 1.0 V not 1.0 v.

the lower case applies only to the common noun, not the abbreviation or symbol.

By re-reading, you'll see that's precisely what I said. I was reinforcing your point.

 

[lcsaszar]

Using Google translate
English to German - capacitor --> Kondensator
English to Spanish - capacitor --> condensador
English to Russian - capacitor --> конденсатор (kondensator)
English to Greek - capacitor --> πυκνωτής (pyknotís)

Similar in my language: capacitor --> kondenzátor (colloquial form: kondi)

 

[Charles Darwin]

At least horsepower is always lowercase (hp), and it's somewhere between 9,812.5W and 935W
Horsepower - Wikipedia

Brian

My online calculator says 1 HP equals 745.699 W.

So is there a difference in value between upper case and lower case horse power and why is an upper case horse power equal to fewer Watts than a lower case horse power?

 

[Charles Darwin]

May be to avoid confusion we should all refer to capacitors/condensers as 'pyknotis' from now on.

 

[myleftear]

Piknotis… sounds like

 

[ferret]

You'll be good at Latin abbreviations then e.g. etc. et al!

N.B. ()

Latin is a dead tongue
As dead as dead can be
First it killed the Romans
Now it's killing me!

(Sunday Post, Comic Section, Oor Wullie, circa 1960)

Definitely not dead for me and a few friends. I have a book with some of the best Latin quotes somewhere in one of my bookshelves. Probably the best quote is "in excreta torres cerbrum vincit"

I shall leave that up to you to translate

 

[myleftear]

Hm. I guess: In a foreign tower the brain will win
And now I'll look it up…

Not quite.

 

[ferret]

m = milli (1/1000th) - of a metre
k = kilo 1000 - metres 1 km
M = Mega (10 ^ 6)
G = Giga (10 ^ 9)
et cetera

MFD would thus be Mega Farads - one fxxxked up big capacitor.


I suspect "condenser" was dropped in the English language due to the fact condensers are devices used to dry out air, viz. de-humidify. But I do not know - will research this sometime. Original use was probably to signify that a high charge was pushed into a small space, hence condenser. English can be an extremely confusing language

 

[Galu]

@ ferret

Do you mean cerebrum?

And I'm having difficulty with torres.

However, I've an inkling as to what you are suggesting based on the excreta!

P.S. My quote is from Oor Wullie, a well loved wee Scottish boy who features in his own cartoon strip.

It is not my personal opinion!