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A capacitor is an electrical/electronic device that can store energy in the electric field between a pair of conductors (called "plates"). The process of storing energy in the capacitor is known as "charging", and involves electric charges if equal magnitude, but opposite polarity, building up on each plate.

 

Capacitors are often used in electric and electronic circuits as energy-storage devices. They can also be used to differentiate between high-frequency and low-frequency signals. This property makes them useful in electronic filters. Practical capacitors have series resistance, internal leakage of charge, series inductance and other non-ideal properties not found in a theoretical, ideal, capacitor.

 

 

 

Capacitor Values & Units

 

Capacitors typically have values in either picofarads (pF) or microfarads (μF).

 

1 pF = .000001 μF

 

To convert pF to μF, multiply by .000001

 

Example: 4700 pF = .0047 μF

 

To convert μF to pF, multiply by 1,000,000

 

Example: .0033 μF = 3300 pF

 

Note: Many pieces of vintage equipment referred to capacitance units in micromicrofarads (mmF).

 

This unit is now referred to as picofarads (pF).

Capacitor Markings

 

The values of film and ceramic disk capacitors are typically marked in picofarads (pF) using a 3 digit number followed by a letter, for example:

 

682K

 

The first 2 digits are the two significant values of the capacitance and the 3rd digit is number of following zeroes.

 

For the above example, the value is

6800 pF = .0068 μF

 

The letter following the three digits is typically the value tolerance, where:

 

J = 5% K = 10% M = 20%