Leyden jar

A Leyden jar (or Leiden jar, or archaically, Kleistian jar) is an <a href="/facts/Electrical_component/F3NBVv4Q">electrical component</a> that stores a high-voltage <a href="/facts/Electric_charge/xxsBfmlB">electric charge</a> (from an external source) between <a href="/facts/Electrical_conductor/BSuyupLP">electrical conductors</a> 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 <a href="/facts/Capacitor/hyowqv7n">capacitor</a> (also called a condenser).
Its invention was a discovery made independently by German cleric <a href="/facts/Ewald_Georg_von_Kleist/qBv4uIRL">Ewald Georg von Kleist</a> on 11 October 1745 and by Dutch scientist <a href="/facts/Pieter_van_Musschenbroek/WjXKqboV">Pieter van Musschenbroek</a> of <a href="/facts/Leiden/rs70mHlG">Leiden</a> (Leyden), Netherlands, in 1745–1746.
The Leyden jar was used to conduct many early experiments in electricity, and its discovery was of fundamental importance in the study of <a href="/facts/Electrostatics/bxkuW6s4">electrostatics</a>. It was the first means of accumulating and preserving electric charge in large quantities that could be discharged at the experimenter's will, thus overcoming a significant limit to early research into electrical conduction. Leyden jars are still used in education to demonstrate the principles of electrostatics.

Leyden jar open-in-new

Leyden jar