English Reference

Word

capacitance

Phoneticsca·pac·i·tance

US/kəˈpæsətəns/

UK/kəpˈæsɪtəns/

Definition

n. the ability of a material or object to store an electric charge. It is measured in a unit called a farad.

n. the ability of a system to store an electric charge. It is defined as the ratio of the electric charge stored on a conductor to the potential difference applied to it.

Examples

“The capacitor has a high capacitance to hold more charge.”

“Engineers must calculate the total capacitance of the circuit to ensure the power supply remains stable.”

“The capacitance of the parallel-plate capacitor increases as the distance between the plates decreases, following the inverse relationship dictated by the permittivity of the dielectric material.”

Examples

simple

“The capacitor has a high capacitance to hold more charge.”

contextual

“Engineers must calculate the total capacitance of the circuit to ensure the power supply remains stable.”

complex

“The capacitance of the parallel-plate capacitor increases as the distance between the plates decreases, following the inverse relationship dictated by the permittivity of the dielectric material.”

Etymology

From capacity + -ance.

Etymology adapted from Wiktionary, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.

Domain

Physics

This entry

Level
C1 · Advanced
Frequency
Occasional
Updated

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English Reference