A capacitor which is made with a "wet" dielectric. Electrolytic capacitors are prone to "drying out", whereby the dielectric no longer functions as it should, and the capacitor loses its capacitance. Electrolytic capacitors are polar, and it is important to keep the negative pole connected to a lower-voltage section of your circuit board, and the positive pole connected to the higher-voltage section of your circuit board. Circuit boards are typically labeled with the positive pole. Electrolytic Capacitors have a stripe on the negative side, usually with minus signs. An electrolytic capacitor which has not been clipped will have a longer wire on the positive pole.
A capacitor utilising a chemical paste electrolyte or process for forming the dielectric insulator.
A capacitor with a negative and a positive terminal that only passes alternating current.
A capacitor whose electrodes are immersed in a wet electrolyte or dry paste.
a fixed capacitor consisting of two electrodes separated by an electrolyte
a capacitor in which one plate is metallic and the other plate is an electrolyte
a capacitor whose dielectric is an oxide of aluminum or tantalum. The oxide is formed by electrochemical reaction with those metals. Three styles are wet foil, wet slug and dry or solid slug. Aluminum capacitors are wet-foil style but tantalum capacitors can be made in all three styles. Both aluminum and tantalum units can be polarised or non-polarised. As a class they exhibit high capacitance per unit volume (high volumetric efficiency). An aluminum capacitor can store five or more times as much charge as an equivalent -size film capacitor; a tantalum capacitor can store three times as much charge as an equivalent aluminum capacitor.
A common form of capacitor consisting of a conductive film in an electrolyte. Tends to be used for larger values of capacitance.
A special type of capacitor containing an electrolyte. Electrolytic capacitors must be placed in a circuit so that they have the correct polarity
Capacitor that contains two electrodes separated by a dielectric electrolyte. Related Terms: tantalum capacitor
A device that contains two electrodes separated by an electrolyte.
A capacitor is made up of two parallel plates, the electrodes, with a dielectric between them. The amount of capacitance is directly proportional to the surface area of the electrode and indirectly proportional to the dielectric thickness.
The most common form of capacitor consisting of a conductive film in an electrolyte. These are canister-shaped and come in the widest range of values. Stiffening caps are electrolytics.
A capacitor having an electrolyte between the two plates. A thin layer of oxide is deposited on only the positive plate. The oxide acts as the dielectric for the capacitor. Electrolytic capacitors are polarized and so must be connected in correct polarity to prevent breakdown.
An electrolytic capacitor is a type of capacitor typically with a larger capacitance per unit volume than other types, making them valuable in relatively high-current and low-frequency electrical circuits. This is especially the case in power-supply filters, where they store charge needed to moderate output voltage and current fluctuations, in rectifier output, and especially in the absence of rechargeable batteries that can provide similar low-frequency current capacity. They are also widely used as coupling capacitors in circuits where AC should be conducted but DC should not; the large value of the capacitance allows them to pass very low frequencies.