And at my age, I (ahem) leak pretty badly.
Notwithstanding, I read Mr. Mohat’s article. He did a pretty good job at saying what he was trying to say, and I applaud him for it. Coil/Capacitance (LC) circuits are pretty complicated and magneto ignition circuits are no exception. There are a lot of things happening every time it produces a spark, and it is hard to explain it all in terms understandable to a novice. In fact, I get some more grey hairs every time I think about it. And I have a diploma that says I am a TV repairman (Not). But to share a grey hair, when the magneto points open, electrons flow into the capacitor and the voltage across the capacitor increases with time It is mighty fast, but not instant. When the time is up, the electrons flow back out in the opposite direction in series with the coil. It is that reversal in direction that induces a spark voltage in the secondary winding. A way too big (mfd) capacitor will not charge up to as high a voltage in the time available as would a small capacitor. Also, a leaky capacitor loses energy through the leak just as a leaky bucket takes longer to fill with water.. On top of all that, there is an issue with RPM.
OK, I’ve got everybody confused now, including myself.
KISS is a good thing.
Flow back out the opposite direction??? but there is only one wire????? Yes I am confused…lol
And that brings us to another confusing fact. Electrons flow from negative to positive (electron theory)—OR–positive to negative ((conventional theory). Depending on which school you go to. But it REALLY flows negative to positive (electron theory), but most schools teach that it flows positive to negative (conventional theory) because most people THINK that is the way it goes. If you want to understand radio vacuum tubes, you have to sign in to the electron theory.