Capacitor - an Electronic component?

Replies

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  Jeffrey Arulraj

  If you guys feel that capacitor is an electronic component do post Why and the vice versa goes here
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  Ramani Aswath

  Conqueror

  If you guys feel that capacitor is an electronic component do post Why and the vice versa goes here

  In my opinion it is the original electronic component as it stores electric charge as charge.
  IIT, Madras did not differentiate Electrical engineering and Electronics as separate in the early days. Electrical engineering was called heavy current and electronics was called light current.
  Even this is blurring these days with solid state devices being used in Very High Voltage (1000 KV) DC transmission over long distances as in China.
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  levent solak

  I agree with A.V.Ramani about why capacitor is an electronic component. I don't see why we should label the something made out of semi-conductor only as an electronic component. There are many parts out there that do not necessarily possess semi-conductor what-so-ever and we could without doubt call them electronic components.
  
  Electronics Assembly
• 

  a.alandkar

  A.V.Ramani is right about why its an electronics component.
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  Prashant Munshi

  If a component is being used in electronics circuitry then it should be electronic component. Actually Mr. Ramani is right. Electronics is branch which emerges from electrical engineering, Or should we say electrical is also electronics because electric current is defined as flow of electrons. Electrons is the basic of electrical engineering and electronic.
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  zaveri

  From what i know, there are two types of capacitors: the electrolytic type used in induction motors, and the ceramic type, which are of the same size as diodes, and are used in electronic circuits.
  
  the first one as i know is not an electronic component, but the ceramic one, i don't know what goes into making that, and that alone seems to be an electronic component.
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  Jeffrey Arulraj

  Well #-Link-Snipped-# I was having the same conclusion But in both the cases there is only storage of electrons and so Both are electronic component
  
  Ceramic capacitor works on the same principal of the electrolytic capacitor
• 

  Ramani Aswath

  A capacitor is just a dielectric between two conductor electrodes. The dielectric may be metal oxides as in Aluminium and Tantalum electrolytics, can be paper or ceramic. Electrolytics use an integral oxide layer on the anode. These have a very large capacitance/cc volume. This is because the dielectric is very thin. Chemically etching thee anode or sintering a metal powder as in Tantalum capacitor increases the area ten to hundred times the gross geometric area.
  Since capacitance = c x A/d (C - a constant dependant on the dielectric, A - area of the electrode, d - thickness of the dielectric) electrolytics have a huge capacitance per unit volume. However they are mostly low voltage. The dielectric is easily damaged so an electrolyte is used so that the film regenerates during use. They also have a large leakage current. They are mostly used as filter and smoothing capacitors in power supplies.
  Paper and ceramic capacitors have very low leakage currents and can be made to stand high voltages. However, the area is less and thickness of the dielectric is more leading to a large bulk.
  The upcoming super capacitors are are actually electrochemical devices that bridge the gap between electrolytics and rechargeable batteries. They can be discharged and recharged at much higher rates and have a large charge-discharge life. Unlike regular capacitors, these can use a chemical reaction in the process of storing charge.