CAPACITOR
\kəpˈasɪtə], \kəpˈasɪtə], \k_ə_p_ˈa_s_ɪ_t_ə]\
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An electronic device that can store electricalcharge. The charge stored Q in Coulombs is related to thecapacitance C in Farads and the voltage V across the capacitorin Volts by Q = CV.The basis of a dynamic RAM cell is a capacitor. They arealso used for power-supply smoothing (or "decoupling"). Thisis especially important in digital circuits where a digitaldevice switching between states causes a sudden demand forcurrent. Without sufficient local power supply decoupling,this current "spike" cannot be supplied directly from thepower supply due to the inductance of the connectors and sowill cause a sharp drop in the power supply voltage near theswitching device. This can cause other devices to malfunctionresulting in hard to trace glitches.
By Denis Howe
Word of the day
basidiomycota
- comprises fungi bearing the spores on basidium: Gasteromycetes (puffballs); Tiliomycetes (comprising orders Ustilaginales (smuts) and Uredinales (rusts)); Hymenomycetes (mushrooms; toadstools; agarics; bracket fungi); in some classification systems considered a division of kingdom comprises fungi bearing spores on a basidium; includes Gasteromycetes (puffballs) Tiliomycetes comprising the orders Ustilaginales (smuts) and Uredinales (rusts) Hymenomycetes (mushrooms, toadstools, agarics bracket fungi).