Capacitors Basics

1. A Capacitor consists of two metal plates separated by a dielectric.
2. The dielectric is made of many insulating materials such as glass, paper, plastic etc. Dielectrics is the study of dielectric materials and involves physical models to tell how an electric field acts inside a material. A Capacitor is capable of storing electrical charge and energy.
3. If the value of capacitance is higher more the charge capacitor will store.
4. The larger the area of the plates or the smaller their separation the more charge the Capacitor can store.
5. The symbol for electrical charge is Q and its unit is the Coulomb.
6. Electrolytic Capacitors are polarized. At time of putting capacitor on a circuit plate we must be aware of a +ve and a -ve terminal.
7. Capacitance is computed in Farads, which is a very large unit hence we use Microfarad (uF), Nanofarad (nF) and Picofarad (pF) units.
8. Capacitors when connected in parallel have a common supply voltage across them whereas the Series connected Capacitors have a common current flowing through them.