Accumulators: A concept for GURPS Spaceships

[Ulzgoroth]

Originally Posted by gruundehn

I am not familiar with that technology. Does the device have to be part of a circuit or can it be left by itself? If it has to be part of a circuit, it is a capacitor. If it can be removed from the charging circuit and stored, it is a battery.

The function does not change even when the technology does.

'Battery' and 'capacitor' are not as abstract terms as you seem to want them to be.

Also, a capacitor can be removed from the charging circuit and stored. They do tend to lose their charge over time, though that might be more a feature of modern tiny ones than bulkier types like leyden jars. But then some electrochemical batteries also break down in storage...