Capacitor – a device that stores energy in the electric field created between a pair of conductors on which equal but opposite electric charges have been placed. A capacitor is occasionally referred to using the older term condenser.
Capacitance is typified by a parallel plate arrangement
Charging a Capacitor – When a battery is connected to a series resistor and capacitor, the initial current is high as the battery transports charge from one plate of the capacitor to the other. The charging current asymptotically approaches zero as the capacitor becomes charged up to the battery voltage. Charging the capacitor stores energy in the electric field between the capacitor plates. The rate of charging is typically described in terms of a time constant RC.
Supercapacitor – Hemp-derived carbon nanosheets help build cheap, high-performance supercapacitors. Researchers have developed a high-performance electrode material at one thousandth the cost of the more commonly used graphene.
That’s engineering
- series circuit – This is when components in a circuit are arranged one after the other in the same circuit.
Engineering ideas
- capacitor, capacitance, electric field, conductors, energy, charge, resistor, battery, current, charging
Learn more…
- Capacitance (video 13:35) – instructional
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