Capacitance And Inductance

The energy-storing components — capacitors and inductors — that make circuits depend on time: what they are, how they behave in DC and AC, resonance, and the failure modes that make them the most common casualties on a repair bench.

• 3.1What Is a Capacitor?Two plates, an insulator between them, and the ability to store charge — the component that holds energy in an electric field, blocks steady DC, and is one of the most common failures on a repair bench.BeginnerLow Risk22 min read
• 3.2Capacitor Behavior in DC CircuitsCharging and discharging through a resistor, over time — the RC time constant, the 63% rule, and why a capacitor's sense of time governs everything from timers to power-supply smoothing.Beginner+Low Risk24 min read
• 3.3Capacitor Behavior in AC CircuitsWhen the voltage never stops changing, a capacitor never stops passing current — its frequency-dependent opposition, capacitive reactance, is the reason a capacitor blocks DC but passes AC, and the basis of every filter.IntermediateLow Risk24 min read
• 3.4What Is an Inductor?A coil of wire that stores energy in a magnetic field and fights every change in current — the capacitor's mirror twin, passing steady DC while opposing anything that alternates.Beginner+Low Risk22 min read
• 3.5Inductor Behavior in CircuitsThe inductor over time and across frequency — its L/R time constant and its rising reactance, the point-for-point mirror of the capacitor, with current lagging where the capacitor's led.IntermediateLow Risk26 min read
• 3.6LC Circuits and ResonancePut a capacitor and an inductor together and their opposite reactances cancel at one special frequency — resonance, the electrical pendulum behind every radio dial, oscillator, and tuned filter.IntermediateLow Risk26 min read
• 3.7Capacitor and Inductor Failure ModesHow the chapter's two components actually fail on a bench — dried-out and bulging capacitors, high ESR, opens and shorts, open windings and shorted turns — and how to recognize each.IntermediateMedium Risk24 min read
• Chapter Quiz56questions · 80% required to continue