Year: 2008 Pages: 4
A dielectric medium impedes electric current due to the fact that the constituent dipoles become linearly polarized and induce a back EMF. A capacitor in an electric circuit utilizes the principle that a dielectric gap in the conducting material causes impedance and acts like a dam, hence enabling electricity to be stored in the circuit. This same dielectric effect can also be used in transmission lines. We will now examine the discharging process in a capacitor with reference to a transmission line pulse, while taking care not to ignore Ampere's Circuital Law. A general principle will be proposed in which an electric circulation commences at the contact point of discharge, and that this circulation expands in two opposite directions, eating its way backwards into the original charged zone while simultaneously extending forwards beyond it, such as to create a region that is twice as long as the original zone, but exhibiting a lesser degree of linear polarization.