capacitivos

Capacitivos, commonly referred to in English as capacitors, are passive electrical components that store energy in an electric field. They consist of two conducting plates separated by a dielectric insulator. When a voltage is applied, charges accumulate on the plates, creating stored energy proportional to the field.

The capacitance, C, measures how much charge per volt the device can store, and is expressed in farads (F). Typical values are in microfarads (µF), nanofarads (nF), or picofarads (pF). Energy stored is E = 1/2 C V^2, and capacitivos influence circuits by smoothing, coupling signals, or filtering noise.

Capacitivos come in many types: ceramic, film, electrolytic (aluminum and tantalum), and specialty devices like supercapacitors. Ceramic are small and stable, film offer precision, electrolytics provide high capacitance but may be polar and have higher leakage, and supercapacitors store large amounts of energy at moderate voltages. Some are polarized; others are non-polarized.

Key specifications include voltage rating, tolerance, equivalent series resistance (ESR), leakage current, and temperature coefficient. Capacitivos age and drift with temperature and time. Selection depends on desired capacitance, voltage, frequency, physical size, and cost, as well as whether the application requires energy storage, decoupling, coupling, or timing.

Applications range from power-supply filtering and decoupling to signal coupling, timing networks, RF tuning, and energy storage in compact devices.