Capacitance

Author: Hans Lohninger

The capacitance of a capacitor specifies the amount of charge, which is stored between the plates of a capacitor at a voltage of 1.0 V. Formally, the charge Q (which is equivalent to the number of elementary charges) is proportional to the voltage U between the capacitor plates:

Q = CU

The proportionality constant C is called the capacitance of the capacitor; it is measured in Farad. As the unit Farad is much too large for existing capacitors, the capacitance is most often specified in parts of Farad (i.e. nF, or pF).

Related Topics:

• Capacitance and Condensers
• Capacitance and Inductance