470uF capacitor explodes out schmoo

Better lighting for maximum boom-vision. Taking YouTube "shorts" to a whole new level.

This is a 470uF capacitor venting forcefully from its safety pressure release.

Subscribing will encourage me to blow more stuff up.

[GreenJimll]

When I was a kid my Physics master wanted to show us this, only he used a huge old capacitor that would take some time to fail and that had a pressure relief valve at the top. He set it up on a bench at the back of the classroom with tripod stand and weight on top to hold it down. He set up the power supply and we all then turned back to the front for the class to continue the lesson whilst we waited for the pressure relief valve to release the "schmoo".

About 10 minutes later there was a loud bang and a crashing of glass. The pressure relief valve hadn't worked and the capacitor had taken off, bringing the tripod stand and weight along with it, straight through the top floor window of the science block and into the teachers car park below.

End of lesson. 🙂

[TC_here]

This takes me back to my college days in electronic eng. During labs youd hear a loud pop and the magic smoke would be released. Then the look of a disappointed lecturer :)

[GodmanchesterGoblin]

Been there, done that... Late 1970s, Saturday mornings at the factory when the bosses weren't there... Bigger capacitors (probably up to 4700uF at 50V or so) and a big bench supply. The aim was to get the foil to wrap itself around the roof trusses, 25 feet or so above. It was achieved more than once. Happy days!

[MightyElemental]

I still remember in science class when a friend of mine came over to my desk, reversed the polarity and walked off before my capacitor exploded. Everyone in the room thought I was an idiot for getting the polarity wrong.

[fireandcopper]

Swelling and explosion upon wattage application is also how they extract purebred shmoo

[adytexas]

Electronic technician joke. I used to connect those reversed on the power supply then waited for the technician to turn the power supply on. It was a laugh every time.

[bmolax]

The timing and voice of Clive is just amazing

[simonm]

Clive, this reminds me of my first job working for a small local company. Being young we had to experiment with just this sort of entertainment. Our go to was a string of tantalum bead caps wired to the mains. Very useful as detonators as we expanded our interest into explosive gas combinations. This culminated in me filling my bosses waste paper bin with propane and wiring said bead cap so when he returned the shower of confetti was highly amusing to us. Needless to say it did nothing for my career!!

[trig]

Have you ever made the apprentice favourite "Tobacco tin gag"? Remove lid from empty tin, solder capacitor to inside of lid and inside of base. Apply electrical tape to base rim and refit lid. Trim of visible electrical tape and charge capacitor. Leave baccy tin on the end of your bench and wait for a thieving bastard to get the shock of his life.

[thatgeezeruk]

I set up a low pass filter on a HiFi when I was 10 or so, 33 years ago. I was in the kitchen of my parents house. A simple project, you'd think, one resistor in series and one capacitor in parallel...I knew nothing of the math so I grabbed the components and soldered it together. So proud I called my parents out, and said this should replicate a subwoofer, turn it on dad, BANG it went, went my mum. Lesson learned, do the math, get the polarity right, check it and test it before you unveil it.

[Live.Vibe.Lasers]

somebody please sample "it's exploded and spilled it's guts" into some EDM.
"it's swelling" probably belongs too 🤣

[diezgp]

Bro, you found pure gold with these shorts format

[stevenmiller]

This is satisfying. Straight to the point. We got the results we all wanted to see without all extra nonsense. 10 out of 10. Highly recommended.

[neemabrown]

Had this happen once with a kit I'd soldered together. Had a capacitor oriented the wrong way and didn't realize. Cleaning all the schmoo off the board after was quite the task.

[matambale]

Its defunctness is absolute.
(& excellent use of "shorts")

[dirkbergstrom]

Love it! Okay, how about the classic metal fork in a toaster (while metering the AC input?)...

[soapflakes]

Nice visual demo of how the safety valve on top works to protect the capacitor's neighboring components from being IED casualties (if you're lucky enough to get the failsafe failure mode)

[wladi]

*It's exploded and spewed its guts!*
The most british thing I heard this week!

[saltypence]

My Uncle said when he was in the Navy they used to put these in the radios so when the repair guy came to fix it he would turn it on and get the Shmoo all over his uniform as a prank.

[gvii]

You're going to be finding capacitor innards in that room for the rest of your life at this rate, lol... On another note, I'm not entirely sure why I find these as entertaining as I do. But if you happen to find a large tantalum laying around, that might be fun to watch.