positively charged and the other electrode is negatively charged alternately during use the electrodes 44 a 44 b can be of varying sizes shapes and thicknesses depending upon the particular application a monopolar electrosurgical tool 40 mp is shown in fig2 b and may alternatively be used with the rf generator 50 the monopolar electrosurgical tool 40 mp comprises a pen 42 m and an electrode pad 44 p a cord 46 m of the pen 42 m connects to the rf generator 50 through for example output adapter 58 an electrode 44 m of the pen 42 m is applied to the tissue of a patient the electrode pad 44 p is applied to the patient and is separately connected to the rf generator 50 via a cord 46 p for simplicity the preferred embodiments will be described as using the bipolar surgical pen 40 but those skilled in the art will recognize that a monopolar electrosurgical tool 40 mp may be substituted therefor referring to fig3 an overall control circuit 59 for the rf generator 50 is shown in a general block diagram the control circuit 59 is comprised of multiple sub circuits forming an overall control system for the rf generator 50 the control circuit 59 includes a main controller u 1 and.