Electrical capacitor definition of Electrical capacitor in the Free Online Encyclopedia.

capacitor or condenser, device for the storage of electric charge. Simple capacitors consist of two plates made of an electrically conducting material (e.g., a metal) and separated by a nonconducting material or dielectric (e.g., glass, paraffin, mica, oil, paper, tantalum, or air). The Leyden jar Leyden jar (lī`dən), form of capacitor invented at the Univ. of Leiden in the 18th cent.
..... Click the link for more information. is a simple capacitor. If an electrical potential (voltage) is applied to the plates of a capacitor (e.g., by connecting one plate to the positive and the other to the negative terminal of a storage battery), the plates will become charged, one positively and one negatively. If the externally applied voltage is then removed, the plates of the capacitor remain charged, and the presence of the electric charge induces an electrical potential between the plates. This phenomenon is called electrostatic induction. The capacity of the device for storing electric charge (i.e., its capacitance capacitance, in electricity, capability of a body, system, circuit, or device for storing electric charge. Capacitance is expressed as the ratio of stored charge in coulombs to the impressed potential difference in volts.
..... Click the link for more information. ) can be increased by increasing the area of the plates, by decreasing their separation, or by changing the dielectric. The dielectric constant of a particular dielectric is the measure of the dielectric's unit capacitance. It describes the ratio of the capacitance of a dielectric-filled capacitor to a capacitor of the same size with a vacuum between the plates. Capacitors are used in many electrical and electronic devices. The main capacitor classifications are non-polarized (used for AC circuits) and polarized (used for DC circuits). Capacitors can also be classified as fixed or variable. One type of variable capacitor, formerly used in radio and television tuning circuits, consisted of two sets of semicircular plates, one fixed and the other mounted on a movable shaft. By rotating the shaft the area of overlap of the two plates increases or decreases, thus increasing or decreasing the capacitance. These devices have largely been replaced by frequency synthesizers and a special type of solid-state diode diode (dī`ōd), two-terminal electronic device that permits current flow predominantly in only one direction.
..... Click the link for more information. , known as a varactor, whose capacitance changes with the reverse-biased voltage across it.

An electronic component that stores an electric charge and releases it when required. It comes in a huge variety of sizes and types for use in regulating power as well as for conditioning, smoothing and isolating signals. Capacitors are made from many different materials, and virtually every electrical and electronic system uses them.

Somewhat Like a Battery
Capacitors act like tiny storage batteries that charge and discharge rapidly. Made of two plates separated by a thin insulator or sometimes air, when one plate is charged negative and the other positive, a charge builds up and remains after the current is removed. When power is required, the circuit is switched to conduct current between the plates, and the charge is released. See ultracapacitor.

Many Applications
Big capacitors are used in computer power supplies. Tiny discrete ceramic and tantalum capacitors are built on the outside of the chip package or surround the chip on the motherboard. In signal processing, a capacitor and resistor smooth the spikes and sharp edges from a signal. In DRAM chips, capacitors are microscopic cells that hold the 0s and 1s (bits). Logic circuits, which are mostly transistors and resistors, may also contain capacitors. See tantalum capacitor and ferroelectric capacitor.

Capacitors

Silver Batteries
Looking like "silver cans," and acting like miniature storage batteries, capacitors are found on countless circuit boards such as this high-end display adapter. Wired between the power and ground planes, they quickly charge up when the computer is turned on. When more transistors switch simultaneously because the application demands extra processing, they are made to release their charge. (Image courtesy of NVIDIA Corporation.)

Capacitor

An electrical device capable of storing electrical energy. In general, a capacitor consists of two metal plates insulated from each other by a dielectric. The capacitance of a capacitor depends primarily upon its shape and size and upon the relative permittivity ε_r of the medium between the plates. In vacuum, in air, and in most gases, ε_r ranges from one to several hundred. See Capacitance, Permittivity

One classification of capacitors comes from the physical state of their dielectrics, which may be gas (or vacuum), liquid, solid, or a combination of these. Each of these classifications may be subdivided according to the specific dielectric used. Capacitors may be further classified by their ability to be used in alternating-current (ac) or direct-current (dc) circuits with various current levels.

Capacitors are also classified as fixed, adjustable, or variable. The capacitance of fixed capacitors remains unchanged, except for small variations caused by temperature fluctuations. The capacitance of adjustable capacitors may be set at any one of several discrete values. The capacitance of variable capacitors may be adjusted continuously and set at any value between minimum and maximum limits fixed by construction. Trimmer capacitors are relatively small variable capacitors used in parallel with larger variable or fixed capacitors to permit exact adjustment of the capacitance of the parallel combination.

Made in both fixed and variable types, air, gas, and vacuum capacitors are constructed with flat parallel metallic plates (or cylindrical concentric metallic plates) with air, gas, or vacuum as the dielectric between plates. Alternate plates are connected, with one or both sets supported by means of a solid insulating material such as glass, quartz, ceramic, or plastic. Gas capacitors are similarly built but are enclosed in a leakproof case. Vacuum capacitors are of concentric-cylindrical construction and are enclosed in highly evacuated glass envelopes.

The purpose of a high vacuum, or a gas under pressure, is to increase the voltage breakdown value for a given plate spacing. For high-voltage applications, when increasing the spacing between plates is undesirable, the breakdown voltage of air capacitors may be increased by rounding the edges of the plates. Air, gas, and vacuum capacitors are used in high-frequency circuits. Fixed and variable air capacitors incorporating special design are used as standards in electrical measurements. See Capacitance measurement, Electrical units and standards

Solid-dielectric capacitors use one of several dieletrics such as a ceramic, mica, glass, or plastic film. Alternate plates of metal, or metallic foil, are stacked with the dielectric, or the dielectric may be metal-plated on both sides.

A large capacitance-to-volume ratio and a low cost per microfarad of capacitance are chief advantages of electrolytic capacitors. These use aluminum or tantalum plates. A paste electrolyte is placed between the plates, and a dc forming voltage is applied. A current flows and by a process of electrolysis builds up a molecule-thin layer of oxide bubbles on the positive plate. This serves as the dieletric. The rest of the electrolyte and the other plate make up the negative electrode. Such a device is said to be polarized and must be connected in a circuit with the proper polarity. Polarized capacitors can be used only in circuits in which the dc component of voltage across the capacitors exceeds the crest value of the ac ripple.

Another type of electrolytic capacitor utilizes compressed tantalum powder and the baking of manganese oxide (MnO₂) as an electrolyte. Nonpolarized electrolytic capacitors can be constructed for use in ac circuits. In effect, they are two polarized capacitors placed in series with their polarities reversed.

Thick-film capacitors are made by means of successive screen-printing and firing processes in the fabrication of certain types of microcircuits used in electronic computers and other electronic systems. They are formed, together with their connecting conductors and associated thick-film resistors, upon a ceramic substrate. Their characteristics and the materials are similar to those of ceramic capacitors.

Thin-film dielectrics are deposited on ceramic and integrated-circuit substrates and then metallized with aluminum to form capacitive components. These are usually single-layer capacitors. The most common dielectrics are silicon nitride and silicon dioxide.

Capacitor

(electronics)

capacitor - An electronic device that can store electrical charge. The charge stored Q in Coulombs is related to the capacitance C in Farads and the voltage V across the capacitor in Volts by Q = CV.

The basis of a dynamic RAM cell is a capacitor. They are also used for power-supply smoothing (or "decoupling"). This is especially important in digital circuits where a digital device switching between states causes a sudden demand for current. Without sufficient local power supply decoupling, this current "spike" cannot be supplied directly from the power supply due to the inductance of the connectors and so will cause a sharp drop in the power supply voltage near the switching device. This can cause other devices to malfunction resulting in hard to trace glitches.

Capacitor (redirected from Electrical capacitor)

Capacitor
(redirected from Electrical capacitor)