Sheet Space
Melting a block of ice with a capacitor and battery Question?
You need to melt a 0.50 kg block of ice at -10degrees C in a hurry. The stove isn't working, but you do have a 40 V battery. It occurs to you that you could build a capacitor from a couple of pieces of sheet metal that are nearby, charge the capacitor with the battery, then discharge it through the block of ice. If you use square sheets spaced 1.5 mm apart, what must the dimensions of the sheets be to accomplish your goal?
If you could explain how you got to your answer that would be fantastic! Really need some help on this one. 
Thanks in advance.
Billrussell42's answer is spot on.
Thank you so much for going through that and explaining it so well! So helpful.
Not even close to possible.
The amount of energy to melt the ice is huge, and the amount of energy stored in a homemade cap is tiny.
But to go through the numbers, energy to melt the ice:
specific heat of ice is 2.06 kJ/kgC
heat of fusion of ice is 334 kJ/kg
E = 2.06 x 0.5 x 10 + 334 x 0.5 = 177 kJ
Parallel plate cap
C = ε₀εr(A/d) in Farads
ε₀ is 8.8542e-12 F/m
εr is dielectric constant (vacuum = 1)
A and d are area of plate in m² and separation in m
E = ½CV² = ½QV = ½Q²/C Energy in a cap in Joules
size of cap to store 177 kJ at 40v
177k = ½C(40)²
C = 220 Farad
Area needed
C = ε₀εr(A/d) = 220
(8.85e-12)(A)/(0.0015) = 220
A = 3.76e10 m²
side of square is square root of that or 194000 meters, or 194 km on a side.
.
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