Capacitors
Capacitors are one of the most widely used electronics components. A capacitor is a passive electronic component that stores energy in the form of an electrostatic field. In its simplest form, a capacitor consists of two conducting plates separated by an insulating material called the dielectric. The capacitance is directly proportional to the surface areas of the plates, and is inversely proportional to the separation between the plates. Capacitance also depends on the dielectric constant of the substance separating the plates.
A capacitor is an electrical device that can store energy in the electric field between a pair of closely spaced conductors (called ‘plates’). When voltage is applied to the capacitor, electric charges of equal magnitude, but opposite polarity, build up on each plate.
A capacitor is a much simpler device, and it cannot produce new electrons it only stores them.
The unit of capacitance is a farad. There are many types of capacitor but they can be split into two groups,they are
(i) electrolytic (polarised)
(ii) non-electrolytic (non-polarised)
Capacitance:
This is a measure of a capacitor’s ability to store charge. A large capacitance means that more charge can be stored. Capacitance is measured in farads, symbol F. However 1F is very large, so prefixes are used to show the smaller values.