Capacitor

A capacitor stores an electrical charge

  • It is similar to a battery, but for 2 differences:
    • it can't hold as much charge
    • it can charge and release its charge much faster

Analogy: Water tank

Consider what a water tank does to help make water flow out consistently. In this image, the red valve can be opened and closed at will, depending on how much water is in the water tank. As a result, we always have the same outflow of water.

  • The capacitor acts as the water tank, and stores energy instead of water. Like the water tank, the purpose is to smooth out interruptions to the supply.

  • potentially carries just enough energy to keep something like memory chip running for a few seconds
    • this is why when we restart devices to try and fix an issue, we need to leave it off for about 10 seconds. that timespan will ensure that the capacitors are fully drained and the memory chips are all wiped.


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