Made By :- Vibhu Mehta

WHAT IS CAPACITORSThe capacitor is a component which has the ability or “capacity” to store energy in the form of an electrical charge producing a potential difference (Static Voltage) across its plates, much like a small rechargeable battery.

TYPES OF CAPACITORS

Non-polarized CapacitorPolarized CapacitorVariable CapacitorTrimmer Capacitor

Non-polarized Capacitor

Type of capacitor that can be connected any way in a circuit. There is no positive or negative. Common types of non-polar capacitors are ceramic, mica and some electrolytic.

Polarized Capacitor

A capacitor is used with a resistor in a timing circuit. It can also be used as a filter, to block DC signals but pass AC signals.

Variable Capacitor

These are usually made up of one or more moving plates and one or more non moving plates separated by the dielectric. By moving the plates, we can vary the capacitance. And it is used in a radio tuner.

Trimmer Capacitor

This type of variable capacitor is operated with a small screwdriver or similar tool. It is designed to be set when the circuit is made and then left without further adjustment

As a capacitor is passive component, it does not generate energy. But it is able to store energy from an energy source like a battery or another charged capacitor. When a battery (DC Source) is connected across a capacitor, one surface, named plate I gets positive end of the battery and another surface, named plate II gets negative end of the battery. When battery is connected, the full voltage of that battery is applied across that capacitor. At that situation, plate I is in positive potency with respect to the plate II. Current from the battery tries to flow through this capacitor from its positive plate (plate I) to negative plate (plate II) but cannot flow at max value due to separation of these plates with an insulating material. Rather a very small current will flow through this insulating material (dielectric) from Positive to Negative plate depending upon the value of strength of this dielectric.

An electric field will form inside the capacitor dielectric from positive to negative plate. As time goes on, positive plate (plate I) will accumulate positive charge from the battery and negative plate (plate II) will accumulate negative charge from negative end of the battery. After a certain time, the capacitor holds maximum amount of charge as per its capacitance with respect to this voltage. This time span is called charging time of this capacitor.

Now, after removing this battery from this capacitor, these two plates will hold positive and negative charges with respect to a certain voltage level for long time. Thus this capacitor acts as energy source.

If two ends (plate I and plate II) get shorted through a load, a current will flow through this load from plate I to plate II up to all charges get vanished from both plates. This time span is known as discharging time of the capacitor.