It used to take me several hours of instruction time to get even a few of my students to understand how a condenser (capacitor) charges and discharges, and that was in a classroom setting. It would take several months of typing on a website, and I'm sure it would be more confusing than educational. The quick and dirty version is that the condenser appears to flow current while it's charging up, and protects the points from burning immediately after they begin to open. Then the condenser discharges before the points close again- - - -otherwise the stored charge would fire across the points like an arc welder and burn them as they closed. This action can be watched on an oscilloscope primary wave pattern.
Jerry
