How can something have high voltage but low charge?
Can anyone provide an analogy for this?
I was going through the ESD topics and read the ESD events usually have high voltage but have low charge?
I am actually confused with the ESD event principle/concept. Like, If something has high voltage, does it mean that it has a lot of charges having similar or equal electrical Electrical potential values or does it mean that it has less number of charges, charged to high potential.
This is where I am not able to understand.
Q=CV. Without talking about capacitance or talking less about capacitance, can someone provide an analogy of High voltage and Low charge?
And do Lightnings that occur, also have high voltage and low charge? If Lightning is also an ESD event, how come Lightnings are very dangerous but small ESD events are not that dangerous for Normal person?
Best Answer
Why does a container containing high pressure air need to contain a lot of air? Answer: It doesn't. The container can be tiny. Pressure is determined by how much force is being exerted per molecule of air, not how much air there is. Sure with more pressure you can force more air into the same space, but the container can always be smaller so high pressure isn't synonymous with having a lot of air.
In this case, pressure is the voltage and amount (mass) of air is the current.
Why is lightning dangerous but ESD not? Remember, it is current that kills, not voltage. However, you need enough voltage to push that enough current through you for it to be lethal. That means there has to be enough power so that the high currents current can be maintained while the voltage is pushing hard.
Lightning has a lot more power behind it than ESD. When ESD is forcing its way through you it's petering out so the currents that flow are limited. This is not the case with lightning where there is enough power behind it that large currents will continue to flow even as the lightning is pushing very hard to get through you.
It's similar to how a tiny piece of sand being thrown at you is a lot less dangerous than a giant rock being thrown at you at the same speed. One has a lot more energy behind it and will not slow down very much when it hits you.