Kapasitiviteetin

Kapasitiviteetti, also known as capacitance, is a fundamental property of an electrical component called a capacitor. It quantifies the ability of a capacitor to store electric charge. Specifically, capacitance is defined as the ratio of the electric charge stored on each conductor of the capacitor to the potential difference between them. The standard unit of capacitance is the farad, symbolized by F. One farad represents one coulomb of charge stored for every one volt of potential difference.

Capacitors typically consist of two conductive plates separated by an insulating material called a dielectric. When a voltage is applied across the plates, positive charge accumulates on one plate and negative charge on the other. The dielectric material plays a crucial role in determining the capacitance; a higher dielectric constant generally leads to a higher capacitance for a given geometry. The physical dimensions of the capacitor, such as the area of the plates and the distance between them, also influence its capacitance.

In practical terms, capacitance is important in a wide range of electronic circuits. It is used for filtering, smoothing out voltage fluctuations, timing circuits, and energy storage. The concept of capacitive reactance, which is the opposition a capacitor presents to the flow of alternating current, is also directly related to capacitance. The behavior of a capacitor in a circuit depends on the frequency of the applied voltage, with higher frequencies leading to lower capacitive reactance.