Doug Coulter wrote:I'm not so sure you proved anything at all about charge carriers there - if negatives are it - then the negative one should have been pulled to ground by emitting those charge carriers...and in air, it's really no contest - both are there aplenty
Well, I figure this is quite different when there is no circuit to ground. All the module does, effectively, is shift charge from one terminal to the other. It can't pull charge from anywhere else, unless it is
fed, or
loses, charge. So it'll start by simply pushing charge from one terminal to the other. Leakage currents will, clearly, play a part, but not until one side of the module is at a high potential wrt ground. I figure this will mean the -ve terminal will more likely end up with a pile of electrons with 'nowhere to go' because they are 'real charge', whereas at the +ve there are no 'real charges', there is simply an absence of electrons.
You might be right - the logic may not be as simple as I am making out. But in any case, it is not a symmetric process - and so it has proved to be!
I should say - just to keep this on the thread subject line!! - it is impossible to measure as 'a voltage' (except and exclusively between those terminals) because neither terminal has any circuit to ground. If you bring an earthed link from ground up to the +ve terminal, then there is a very teeny discharge, if at all. Whereas if you bring the ground link up to the negative [first] you get a goodly spark as the -ve output stage jumps up to earth. After that, the -ve terminal is at earth potential, of course, and if you then take the earth line off the -ve and on to the [now high] +ve any time in the next few minutes you'll then get another spark as the output jumps back down again! So if you were to ever try to measure the voltage wrt ground on the terminals, you'll get an initial current flow, then it'll just read '0'.