The stored energy is released through the heart by conducting electrodes, called
paddles, that are placed on both sides of the victim’s chest. The paramedics must wait between
applications of the energy due to the time necessary for the capacitors to become
fully charged. In this case and others (e.g., camera flash units and lasers used for fusion
experiments), capacitors serve as energy reservoirs which can be slowly charged and then
discharged quickly to provide large amounts of energy in a short pulse.