2.5 keywords - Capacitance

Capacitor

an electrical device that stores charge - useful for storing energy and ‘smoothing‘ AC signals in power generation

Capacitance

charge stores per unit p.d.

Dielectrics

any insulating materials which store a charge - tend to be good electrical insulators

Parallel plate capacitor

comprised of 2 parallel conducting plates with a dielectric in between them

relative permittivity (dielectric constant)

ratio of capacitance of the dielectric to the capacitance of the same volume of free space

Time constant (RC)

the time taken for the initial charge, current or voltage to fall to e^-1 (= 0.37) of its initial value, the unit is the second

T_1/2

time taken for half the charge to discharge from the capacitor