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In electrical engineering, a capacitor is a device that stores electrical energy by accumulating electric charges on two closely spaced surfaces that are insulated from each other. The capacitor was originally known as the condenser , [ 1 ] a term still encountered in a few compound names, such as the condenser microphone .
Aluminium electrolytic capacitors form the bulk of the electrolytic capacitors used in electronics because of the large diversity of sizes and the inexpensive production. Tantalum electrolytic capacitors, usually used in the SMD (surface-mount device) version, have a higher specific capacitance than the aluminium electrolytic capacitors and are ...
The capacitance of the majority of capacitors used in electronic circuits is generally several orders of magnitude smaller than the farad. The most common units of capacitance are the microfarad (μF), nanofarad (nF), picofarad (pF), and, in microcircuits, femtofarad (fF).
capacitor An electrical component that stores energy in an electric field. capacitor-input filter A power supply network where a capacitor is the first element following the rectifier. capacitor voltage transformer In electrical power systems, an instrument transformer for measuring voltage that uses a capacitive voltage divider. capacity factor
Another type – the electrochemical capacitor – makes use of two other storage principles to store electric energy. In contrast to ceramic, film, and electrolytic capacitors, supercapacitors (also known as electrical double-layer capacitors (EDLC) or ultracapacitors) do not have a conventional dielectric.
For example, if the potential difference across a capacitor is halved, the quantity of charge stored by that capacitor will also be halved. For most applications, the farad is an impractically large unit of capacitance. Most electrical and electronic applications are covered by the following SI prefixes:
Capacitors used for suppressing undesirable frequencies are sometimes called filter capacitors. They are common in electrical and electronic equipment, and cover a number of applications, such as: Glitch removal on direct current (DC) power rails; Radio frequency interference (RFI) removal for signal or power lines entering or leaving equipment
The electrical values of electrolytic capacitors with non-solid electrolytes change over time due to evaporation of the electrolyte. Reaching specified limits of the electrical parameters, the capacitors counts as "wear out failure". The graph shows this behavior in a 2000 h endurance test at 105 °C.