A capacitor is an electrical component that stores energy in an electric field. It consists of two conductive plates separated by a non-conductive material, called a dielectric. When a voltage is applied across the plates, electric charges accumulate on each plate, creating an electric field between them. The capacitance of a capacitor is a measure of its ability to store electric charge and is proportional to the surface area of the plates and inversely proportional to the distance between them.
Capacitors are used in a variety of electronic circuits for energy storage, voltage smoothing, filtering, and timing. They can also be used in combination with other components, such as resistors and inductors, to create filters and tuned circuits for specific frequency ranges.
The unit of capacitance is the farad (F), named after the English physicist Michael Faraday. In practice, capacitors with values ranging from picofarads (pF) to thousands of microfarads (µF) are commonly used in electronic circuits. learn more about Learning Management System.
