Which Capacitor???

[mbiondo]

This seems to me to be a dumb question, but I got thinking about it the other day and I don't know the answer so I thought I'd go ahead and ask...

Let's say we have a circuit that calls for a 1uf capacitor. Since a 1uf cap can be had as an Electrolytic, as a Ceramic, as a Mylar, as a Polyester Film, as a Tantalum, as a etc., would any one of the above work as long as it was 1uf, and met the max voltage requirements?

If a circuit calls for a 1uf cap, are certain types of caps more suited to particular types of circuits that others, or, is a capacitor, a capacitor, a capacitor???

Thanks...

Michael-

[Qiaozhi]

This seems to me to be a dumb question, but I got thinking about it the other day and I don't know the answer so I thought I'd go ahead and ask...

Let's say we have a circuit that calls for a 1uf capacitor. Since a 1uf cap can be had as an Electrolytic, as a Ceramic, as a Mylar, as a Polyester Film, as a Tantalum, as a etc., would any one of the above work as long as it was 1uf, and met the max voltage requirements?

If a circuit calls for a 1uf cap, are certain types of caps more suited to particular types of circuits that others, or, is a capacitor, a capacitor, a capacitor???

Thanks...

Michael-

Here's some great information on capacitors. ->
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Capacitor
Should answer all your questions.

[Carl-NC]

A cap is not a cap!

Electrolytics and tantulum are polarized and usually used for supply bypassing, the former more suitable for low-frequency (such as AC-DC converters) and the latter for high-freq. such as shunting switching noise.

Ceramic, mylar, polyester, polypropylene, etc. are used for high-freq. bypassing, shunting, and AC-coupling. They have varying advantages/disadvantages on initial tolerance, voltage coefficient, and dependence to temperature, moisture, and aging.

I use mostly electrolytics for power bypassing, and monolythic ceramic for general purpose, because they are cheap, easy to get, and are generally Good Enough.

- Carl