Stored Charge> “Capacity” means how much something can hold. The capacity of my mouth is a triple cheeseburger!
A <#5632,5133><!capacitor> is a device that holds electricity. It’s a bit like a parking garage. Cars sit in a garage, all gassed up and ready to roll. Electric charges stay inside a capacitor until they’re needed.
One such need is in the circuits of an instant camera. The camera batteries are too weak to make a bright flash. So instead, the camera charges up a capacitor with volts of electricity. Clicking the camera button connects the capacitor to the flash. Then . . . zap! The capacitor “discharges” all that stored charge, and the sudden burst of electric current makes the flash go off.
Radios, televisions, and computers all have capacitors too. They all need to store bursts of electricity to work.
How easily a capacitor can store charge is called its capacitance. It is measured in farads. The name? From a famous physicist and electrician, Michael Faraday.
