How Do Shake Flashlights Work?
Generator The generator is the most important part of the shake flashlight. It consists of a hollow copper coil with a permanent magnet inside of it. The permanent magnet is in a track which allows it to slide up and down. When you shake the flashlight, the permanent magnet passes through the copper coil repeatedly. When it does, the magnet field moving through the wire creates a small pulse of electricity. The circuitry turns all these individual pulses into a steady current which powers up the capacitor and runs the light bulb. Capacitor The capacitor is the simplest part of a shake flashlight. A capacitor basically consists of two sheets of conductors separated by an insulator. Each plate of the conductor stores an electric charge. One stores a positive charge, and the other stores a negative one. Sometimes, a battery is used instead, but most shake lights use a capacitor. Capacitors do not store as much energy as batteries. Also, while a battery will keep its charge for years when
