This four-hour course covers the basics of capacitance in electrical circuits.

Topics: Upon completion of this course the student will be able to: Define the terms "capacitor" and "capacitance." State four characteristics of electrostatic lines of force. State the effect that an electrostatic field has on a charged particle. State the basic parts of a capacitor. Define the term "farad". State the mathematical relationship between a farad, a microfarad, and a picofarad. State three factors that affect the value of capacitance. Given the dielectric constant and the area of and the distance between the plates of a capacitor, solve for capacitance. State two types of power losses associated with capacitors. Define the term "working voltage" of a capacitor, and compute the working voltage of a capacitor. State what happens to the electrons in a capacitor when the capacitor is charging and when it is discharging. State the relationship between voltage and time in an RC circuit when the circuit is charging and discharging. State the relationship between the voltage drop across a resistor and the source voltage in an RC circuit. Given the component values of an RC circuit, compute the RC time constant. Use the universal time constant chart to determine the value of an unknown capacitor in an RC circuit. Calculate the value of total capacitance in a circuit containing capacitors of known value in series. Calculate the value of total capacitance in a circuit containing capacitors of known value in parallel. State the difference between different types of capacitors. Determine the electrical values of capacitors using the color code.

Publication Source: US Dept. of Energy