Capacitors Explained, in this tutorial we look at how capacitors work, where capacitors are used, why capacitors are used, the different types. We look at capacitors in Power factor and full bridge rectifiers to convert AC to DC.A capacitor is a device that stores electrical energy in an electric field by virtue of accumulating electric charges on two close surfaces insulated from each other.
source/image: The Engineering Mindset
It is a passive electronic component with two terminals.The effect of a capacitor is known as capacitance. While some capacitance exists between any two electrical conductors in proximity in a circuit, a capacitor is a component designed to add capacitance to a circuit.
A capacitor consists of two conductors separated by a non-conductive region.The non-conductive region can either be a vacuum or an electrical insulator material known as a dielectric. Examples of dielectric media are glass, air, paper, plastic, ceramic, and even a semiconductor depletion region chemically identical to the conductors.
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From Coulomb’s law a charge on one conductor will exert a force on the charge carriers within the other conductor, attracting opposite polarity charge and repelling like polarity charges, thus an opposite polarity charge will be induced on the surface of the other conductor. The conductors thus hold equal and opposite charges on their facing surfaces,and the dielectric develops an electric field.
