Capacitor

Capacitor

• a device that stores electrical energy in an electric field
• c.f., electric field
• the space where the electric force exerts between the positive (+) charge and the negative (-) charge
• c.f., electric charge
• Electric charge is the amount of static electricity carried by an object and is the substance that is the source of all electrical phenomena. 
• There are positive and negative charges, and it is the current that the charges move.
• c.f., static electricity
• Static electricity is electricity in which an electric charge remains stationary and does not flow. 
• Collects and releases electric charges to provide stable electricity.
• Condenser
• The capacitor was originally known as a condenser
• Inside the capacitor, the two conductor plates are separated, and an insulator is usually inserted between them.
• Most capacitors contain at least two electrical conductors often in the form of metallic plates or surfaces separated by a dielectric medium
• The nonconducting dielectric acts to increase the capacitor's charge capacity.
• c.f., dielectric
• an electrical insulator that can be polarized by an applied electric field. 
• When a dielectric material is placed in an electric field, electric charges do not flow through the material as they do in an electrical conductor but only slightly shift from their average equilibrium positions causing dielectric polarization. 
• Because of dielectric polarization, positive charges are displaced in the direction of the field and negative charges shift in the direction opposite to the field
• Charges are stored at the boundary between the surface of each plate and the insulator, and the amount of charges collected on both surfaces is the same, but the sign is opposite. 
• That is, when a voltage is applied between the two conductor plates, a negative charge is induced to the negative electrode and a positive charge is induced to the positive electrode, resulting in electrical attraction. 
• Because of the electrical attraction, energy is stored