File:Early_Layden_jar.png · Wikimedia Commons · See Wikimedia Commons
Leyden jar
Sign in to saveAlso known as Pot de Leyde
antique electrical device which stores a high-voltage electric charge
Wikidata facts
- Instance of
- electrical element
- Subclass of
- capacitor
- Named after
- Leiden University
- Image
- Leid-flasch.gif
Show 4 more facts
- time of discovery or invention
- 1745-00-00
- Commons category
- Leyden jars
- described by source
- Encyclopædia Britannica 11th edition
- discoverer or inventor
- Ewald Georg von Kleist
Sources (1)
via Wikidata · CC0
~17 min read
Encyclopedic overview
A Leyden jar (or Leiden jar, or archaically, Kleistian jar) is an electrical component that stores a high-voltage electric charge (from an external source) between electrical conductors on the inside and outside of a glass jar. It typically comprises a glass jar with metal foil cemented to the inside and the outside surfaces, and a metal terminal projecting vertically through the jar lid to make contact with the inner foil. It was the original form of the capacitor (also called a condenser).
Its invention was a discovery made independently by German cleric Ewald Georg von Kleist on 11 October 1745 and by Dutch scientist Pieter van Musschenbroek of Leiden (Leyden), Netherlands, in 1745–1746.
Excerpted from Wikipedia’s “Leyden jar” article, available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.