What does a capacitor of 1 farad or 1000 microfarad mean? how much volt or ampere would those handle?
Answer:
In SI units, a capacitor has a capacitance of one farad when one coulomb of charge is stored due to one volt applied potential difference across the plates. Since the farad is a very large unit, values of capacitors are usually expressed in microfarads (µF), nanofarads (nF), or picofarads (pF).
microfarad=10^-6 farad
The capacitance is proportional to the surface area of the conducting plate and inversely proportional to the distance between the plates. It is also proportional to the permittivity of the dielectric (that is, non-conducting) substance that separates the plates.
Capacitors follow this basic formula: q=CV.
What this means is the charge (in coulombs) on a capacitor equals the capacitance multiplied by the voltage across it.
The voltage a cap can handle is dependent on it's physical construction. Since a cap is basically two metal plates separated by an insulator, the max voltage is a function of the distance between the plates. The dialectric withstanding voltage of the dialectric is relevant also.
The current capacity is determined by the "effective series resistance" of a capacitor. No caps are perfect, the all exhibit some series resistance. The lower this is the better. This resistance dissipates power according to the classic equation P = I^2* R where i^2 denotes raised to the power of 2. As you can see, power dissipation is directly proportional to the resistance.
A capacitance of 1 farad means the capacitor can hold 96,500 coulombs of charge.
A capacitance of 1000 microfarad or millifarad means the capacitor can store 96.5 coulombs of charge.
The farad sizing of a capacitor should be independent of its voltage or amperage rating. This value relates the amount of charge that the capacitor stores to the applied voltage. You can probably find the manufacturers ratings either on the box or find a spec sheet online somewhere or ask whomever you're buying these from.
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