notes/Areas/electricity/parts/capacitors.md.md

65 lines
1.5 KiB
Markdown

# Capacitors
Capacity is measured in [[glossary#Farad|Farads]].
Capacity is calculated as follows:
$$
\begin{flalign}
& C = \epsilon r \frac{A}{4\pi d} &&\\\
\\
& \epsilon r = \text{Dielectrics relative permittivity} &&\\
& A = \text{Amount of Area the plates overlap} &&\\
& d = \text{Distance between plates} &&\\
\end{flalign}
$$
![](../assets/Parallel_plate_capacitor.svg)
### Important Metrics
**Size:**
Larger Capacity $\approx$ Larger Size
**Maximum Voltage**
Each capacitor has a maximum voltage that can be dropped across it.
**Leakage Current**
Capacitors are not perfect, and leak some current across the terminals.
**Equivalent series Resistance (ESR)**
The terminals are not 100% conductive, so the will have some very small resistance, (usually less than $0.01\ohm$)
**Tolerance**
The capacity is not always exact, the tolerance describes how much it could vary, usually about $\mp 1\%$ to $\mp 20\%$
## Ceramic Capacitors
- least expansive
- relative small usually $< 10\micro F$
- low current leakage and ESR
- best for high frequency coupling
![](../assets/ceramic-capacitor.webp)
## Aluminium and Tantalum Electrolytic
- Usually polarized
- Capacity usuially $1\micro F - 1mF$
- Good for high voltage
![](../assets/tantalum-capacitor.jpg)
## Super Capacitors
- Usually can handle only low voltage
- Capacity in the range of farads
## Film Capacitor
- usually low ESR
## Mica Capacitor
- Can work in hot environments > $200\deg$
- Low ESR
- High Precision
- High Cost