Accumulators: A concept for GURPS Spaceships

[gruundehn]

Originally Posted by Ulzgoroth

'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...

I am not using the terms in any abstract sense but in a technical sense. A capacitor must be kept charged actively in that current must always be supplied in order for the charge to stay. A battery does not need constant recharging. Yes, there are capacitors that can store a charge outside of a circuit but not generally, old style Leiden jars hold a charge, for example, but not over a long period of time. Hours, or maybe days rather than years or even decades.

There are other differences between the two types of electrical storage but the need to recharge over a short period rather than a long period is the one I started with and stay with.